§ MR. J. F. HOGAN (Tipperary, Mid)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) whether he has received information of a public meeting of the residents of Norfolk Island, at which protests were made against the proposed placing of the Island under the direct authority of the Government of New South Wales; and (2) whether, in view of the large amount of hostility the proposal has evoked, he will consider 749 and suggest some compromise which, while securing the desired reforms of civil and judicial administration, will preserve the essential features of the system of local self-government the community has enjoyed for the past 40 years?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINsaid, I have heard indirectly that a protest of this nature has been made, but I have no detailed information on the subject. As the hon. Member has already been informed, the future Government of Norfolk Island is at present the subject of communications with New South Wales and with New Zealand, and I am not as yet in a position to make any definite statement on the subject.