§ SIR ELLIS ASHMEAD-BARTLETT (Sheffield, Ecclesall)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can give the House any information as to the Aliens Expulsion Act, the Press Coercion Act, and the Act for placing the Judges under the control of the Executive, passed by the Boer Volksraad last year; and also state the purport of the Report just made by the Commission to inquire into the monopolies and taxation upon the industries of the Rand; and whether the Government propose to refer to arbitration the questions at issue between this country and the Transvaal?
MR. CHAMBERLAINThe British Agent at Pretoria has reported that a Motion for the revision of the Aliens Expulsion Law has been passed by the Volksraad. I have no official information of the terms of the Motion. The High Court of the Transvaal has quashed 409 an Order of the Executive under the Press Law, suppressing for a certain period the publication of a newspaper, on the ground that the law did not authorise the prohibition to publish documents not already printed. As regards the law relating to the Judges, I understand that negotiations are still in progress between the Government and the Judges. I have not received any particulars of the Report of the Commission referred to.