§ MR. VESEY KNOX (Londonderry)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies—(1) whether he is aware that the loss of cattle in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, owing to the ravages of the rinderpest, is causing very severe suffering to the natives, no less than 60,000 cattle having been lost in Khama's country alone; and (2), whether, having regard to the exceptional nature of the calamity, and the peaceful disposition of the Bechuana people, he will take measures to relieve the distress and to avert the possibility of famine?
§ SIR GEORGE BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether he can give the House any further information as to the extent of the distress in the Bechuanaland Protectorate following the ravages of rinderpest; and whether, as one means of alleviating this distress, it will be possible to press forward with the cuttings, enbankments, levellings, and other preliminary work for the trunk line railway between Mafeking and Buluwayo, so as to afford profitable employment at once for some of these destitute natives?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN,) Birmingham, W.I am aware of the state of things referred to in the first part of the Question, and took the course suggested in the second part some weeks ago; 10,000 bags of mealies have been sent to be delivered at Mafeking about the middle of June, and similar consignments of 10,000 bags each are to arrive by September 1st and December 1st. The cost, including transport, is estimated at £50,000, the greater part of which it is hoped may be eventually recovered in the shape of work done, or of repayment in kind. In reply to the hon. Member for the Kirkdale Division of Liverpool, I am afraid that it would be impossible for me to give the House any adequate description of the position in the Bechuanaland Protectorate, within the compass of an answer to the hon. Member's Question, but I am sending to the hon. Member a copy of a Dispatch from the Resident Commissioner upon the present situation. The prospect of severe distress is very serious, and it is evident that, in addition to the relief 607 which the Government is affording by sending up supplies of food, any assistance from other sources will be most rightly bestowed. From the Dispatch referred to it will be seen that the question of employing the Bechuanas upon the railway is under consideration, but it is a matter for the company which is building the railway, whom we are asking to consider the proposal favourably.