§ MR. R. G. WEBSTER (St. Pancras, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, what was the date of the Convention between Sir 162 Henry Loch and President Kruger abolishing the commandeering of British subjects; whether that Convention requires the ratification of the Boer Volksraad in order to become law; if, at the late meeting of the Volksraad in February, that body postponed the consideration, of that subject to its summer meeting; and whether the British subjects who were forcibly commandeered for the campaign against Malaboch in August last have ever received the pay for the services which the Boer Government promised Sir Henry Loch they should receive?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. SYDNEY BUXTON, Tower Hamlets, Poplar)The Commandeering Treaty was signed in February 1895. The Treaty requires the ratification of the Volksraad before it becomes law. I have already more than once stated that its consideration has been, in the ordinary course, postponed until the ordinary Session of the Volksraad; but that, meanwhile, the undertaking of the President of June last that British subjects shall no more be commandeered for personal military service remains in force. I am not aware that the Government of the South African Republic made any promise to Sir Henry Loch in regard to the pay to be given to those who were commandeered.