§ MR. LABOUCHEREI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether his attention has been called to a letter written by Sir James Sivewright, 1171 a Member of the Ministry of Cape Colony, and dated 24th February 1896, which has been published in the Observer of 15th March, in which he states that if the charter is to be maintained there is heavy weather ahead of the South African Colonies; that the Republics will trust the English Government more than any other Government existing, but that they will never again enter into friendly relations either with England or with any of the English Colonies so long as government by charter on their border exists. And, whether he contemplates, before definitely deciding anything in regard to the maintenance of the Charter of the South African Company, to elicit an expression of opinion from the Cape Government, and to regulate his action as it may advise?
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINSir James Sivewright's letter contains only an expression of his individual opinion, but I gather that the objections taken to the continuance of the Charter will be largely if not entirely removed by the decision of Her Majesty's Government to take the whole of the military and police forces maintained in chartered territories into their own hands. Any representations from the Cape Government would, of course, receive the serious consideration of Her Majesty's Government.