§ MR. G. DRAGE (Derby)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, (1) whether the British South Africa Company has any right to grant 232 to any individual, either temporarily or permanently, the sole and exclusive right to buy maize at the principal Mashuna kraals in the Charter district, to the detriment of the residents in that district; and (2) whether the British South Africa Company has any sole or exclusive right to the cattle of the Mashuna, and any right to punish British subjects for buying cattle from the Mashuna?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINThe answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. As regards the second part of the question, I have to observe that the lion. Member probably intended to refer to the Matabele. Most of the cattle in Matabeleland formerly belonged to Lobengula. Since his death the legal property, in the cattle of the country, has been vested by law in the Company [laughter], with a view to their acting as trustees for the natives [renewed laughter], and providing them with such cattle as they require. By a Company's regulation of 1895, approved by Lord Ripon, it is made a penal offence, both in Matabeleland and Mashonaland, to purchase cattle from natives without written permission from the District Magistrate. The object of the regulation is to prevent frauds by unscrupulous adventurers, who deceive the natives as to market prices, and in other ways bring pressure on them to sell at an undervalue.