§ *SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT (Sheffield, Ecclesall)I beg to ask the Under Secretary for the Colonies whether he can inform the House on what day Sir Henry Loch's term of office as High Commissioner will expire, and on what day he intends to return to this country?
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONSir Henry Loch's tenure of office expires in November. In the ordinary course he would be entitled to a few months' leave of absence, and he would start by the first steamer leaving the Cape. I would like just, to say, as a question has been asked, that there is no truth of any sort of the, kind in the rumours that have appeared in the papers either as to Sir Henry Loch's resignation or as to his recall. He is coming back in the ordinary course, and the Government highly appreciate his services in South Africa.