§ MR. HOGANI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether there is on record at the Colonial Office a Dispatch from one of his predecessors, the Duke of Newcastle, dated 14th December 1861, asserting, on behalf of Her Majesty's Government, the right to deal with the then unsettled Central and Northern Districts of Queensland as the wishes and convenience of future settlers might require, and to erect those districts into distinct colonies when found to be sufficiently advanced and populous to justify such a concession; and whether he is aware that there is a general consensus of local opinion that the time has now arrived when the conditions of progress and settlement, foreshadowed by the Duke of Newcastle at the creation of the present colony of Queensland, have been fully accomplished, and that the promise made by him on behalf of Her Majesty's Government ought to be promptly redeemed?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN,) Birmingham, W.The Dispatch referred to by the hon. Member had reference only to the area to the north of the 26th parallel of latitude and between the 141st and 138th meridians of east longitude 113 which Queensland then wished to take over, and which was, by the Letters Patent of 13th March 1862, annexed to Queensland. The Dispatch had no reference to any question of sub-dividing Queensland, as defined by (he Letters Patent of 1859.