§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam are of value for telegraphic communication between the Cape of Good Hope and Australia; whether they were formerly included in the dependencies of the British Colony of the Mauritius; and whether they are now recognised by Her Majesty's Government to have passed to France in 1892; and, if so, how?
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIESI am not aware that it has ever been proposed that these islands should be made use of for the purpose of telegraphic communication. They were formerly supposed to be dependencies of Mauritius. In 1843 the French took possession of them, and again in 1892 the French flag was formally hoisted in them, and they are now recognised as belonging to France.