§ DR. CLARK (Caithness)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the sole right to manufacture all explosives in the Transvaal was granted by the Volksraad in 1882, two years before the London Convention; that a joint stock company was established in London in 1882 to work the concession, but failed to make it pay, and the company was liquidated in 1888; if he will explain in what way the explosives concession is a breach, of the Convention of 1884, the Convention being made after the concession; and, whether the concession is an infringement of Article 26 of the Pretoria Convention of 1881; and, if so, which of the Subsections, (a) (b) (c) or (d), is infringed by it.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN, Birmingham, W.)I am not aware of all the details mentioned, but any concession which may have been granted in 1882 no longer exists. The existing concession dates from 1893; it infringes Sub-section (c) of Article 14 of the London Convention, which is identical with Sub-section (c) of Article 26 of the Pretoria Convention of 1881.