MR. LAWRENCE (Liverpool, Abercrombie)—I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Foreign Office is cognisant of the losses sustained at Ranapass and Morumbe during the Franco-Hova wars on the 11th of March, 1893, and 18th of January, 1895, by Messrs. H. and J. M'Cubbin and others in their employ; whether losses amounting to £413 and 1,086 dollars respectively have been brought to the notice of the French Government, and with what result; and, having regard to the delay in obtaining compensation, Her Majesty's Government will continue to press the matter on the French Government.
§ MR. BRODRICKThe question of compensation for losses incurred during the war in Madagascar is being examined by the Comitédu Contentieux of the French Colonial Office, but the examination is not yet concluded. Inquiries, 229 will be made of Her Majesty's Ambassador at Paris as to whether the claims referred to in the question are among those filed at the Embassy, but they do not appear to have been brought directly to the notice of the Foreign Office unless the second claim mentioned is identical with the claim of James Oman for 1,086 dollars on account of the pillage of his store at Ranapass on the 18th of June, 1895.