§ MR. HOGAN (Tipperary, Mid)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether a communciation has recently been received from the German Government, expressing willingness to allow the Chief Mataafa to return to Samoa from his place of exile in the Marshall Islands if the British and United States Governments were agreeable; and, whether a favourable response to this representation has been made?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRSThe answer to the first paragraph is in the affir- 887 mative. Her Majesty's Government, acting upon the advice of the British Consul at Apia, have replied that it would be a measure of wise precaution to postpone the pardon of Mataafa and his chiefs until assurances have been received that the rebellion in certain districts is at an end.