§ MR. BILL (Staffordshire, Leek)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have come to any decision on the question of giving some temporary pecuniary assistance to the families of the British officers awl men killed at Waima in December, 1893, pending the result of the arbitration proceedings with the French Government, in accordance with the answers given in this House by the Secretary of State for the Colonies on the 6th May, 1898, and by the late Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the 28th June and 28th July of the same year.
§ MR. HEDDERWICKI beg at the same time to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of a settlement by France, Her Majesty's Government have yet considered the question of making some advance to the surviving relatives of the officers and men who lost their lives at Waima some five years ago.
§ MR. BRODRICKHer Majesty's Government have reason to believe that the French Government will consent to refer this matter to arbitration. When this consent has been obtained they will consider the question of an advance to the survivors. Meanwhile, in considering these claims Her Majesty's Government cannot forget that the relatives of officers killed in action with an enemy suffer equally with the relatives of these officers, and have no claim to compensation beyond the pensions provided in the warrants, to which the relatives of these officers are equally entitled.