§ MR. HOGANI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, in view of the disappointment and dissatisfaction with which his reply to the memorial from the Members for the Central Division of Queensland, praying for the erection of that district into a distinct self-governing Colony, has been locally received, he will reconsider the question during the Recess; whether he is aware that there is no precedent for an Australian Colony consenting, through its Parliament, to its own subdivision, the intervention of the Imperial Government having on all previous occasions of the kind been successfully invoked; and, whether he will cause further inquiry to be made into the grievances alleged by the people of Central Queensland, through their Parliamentary representatives, to result from the present system of government, so that, if shown to be well founded, such grievances may be redressed, and remedial measures adopted as soon as practicable?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN,) Birmingham, W.The question will be kept in view by Her Majesty's Government; but they have satisfied themselves that no immediate action is desirable, and they are of opinion that any further inquiry into the matter at the present moment is unnecessary. As to the second part of the hon. Member's question, I am not prepared to answer it without a fuller examination of the precedents than I have been able to make.