§ SIR ELLIS ASHMEAD-BARTLETT, () Sheffield, EcclesallI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether it was with his advice that the directors of the Chartered Company accepted the resignation of Mr. Cecil Rhodes; whether the Colonial Office have received a petition, signed by the vast majority of the British residents in Rhodesia, begging that Mr. Rhodes should be maintained in his position there; and, what steps Her Majesty's Government propose to take in the present crisis to reassure the British Colonists in Rhodesia for the loss of the founder of that dependency?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINOn the 24th inst. the directors informed me that they considered that the resignation of Mr. Rhodes and Mr. Beit should be accepted. I expressed agreement with their opinion. I have received from the Company a petition signed by about 700 persons in the Chartered territory, but it is not exactly in the terms indicated in the Question, and I am informed that there is some division of opinion on the subject. Her Majesty's Government do not propose to take any special steps in the matter, and it appears hardly accurate to say that the settlers have lost Mr. Rhodes, as he has declared his desire to live in the country and devote himself to its development.