§ MR. J. A. WILLOX (Liverpool, Everton)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether he has now received any authoritative information of the causes of the recent destructive riots in the Island of St. Kitts; whether he has been able to fix responsibility for the delay in taking effective measures for the protection of life and property; and, whether compensation will be paid out of the Imperial or Colonial Revenues to the owners of plantations whose sugar crops were wilfully destroyed by incendiary fires during the riots?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINIn reply to the first part of the hon. Member's Question, I have received very full information as to the circumstances of the plantation fires in St. Kitts and of the disturbances which took place at Basseterre and other places in that island in February last. As regards the second part of the Question, I am not at present in a position to assign such responsibility. As regards the third part of the Question, it is not proposed to grant compensation in these cases, which, it may be observed, occurred previously to the riots in question.