§ CAPTAIN DONELAN (Cork, E.)On behalf of the hon. Member for East Mayo I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he will state the grounds on which it has been decided to 1393 remove General Cronje and a number of Boer prisoners to St. Helena; what is the legal sanction for keeping these men in custody in St. Helena: and whether he will lay upon the Table of the House any correspondence which has passed between Mr. Schreiner and the High Commissioner, or with Her Majesty's Government, on this subject.
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR,) Manchester, E.The grounds for the removal of the prisoners were based on the question of safe custody. I am not aware that any special legal sanction is required in removing them to St. Helena. No correspondence between Mr. Schreiner and the High Commissioner has as yet reached this country.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANOn behalf of the hon. Member for East Mayo, I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he can state the number of cases of illness amongst the Boer prisoners in Simons Town, and the number of deaths; whether any inspection of the prisoners and their quarters has been made by independent medical men; and, if so, whether he will lay their reports upon the Table of the House; and why the Boer prisoners have been kept on board ship instead of being kept under conditions similar to those enjoyed by the British prisoners in the Transvaal.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURThe information asked for in the first paragraph was given in full detail by my hon. friend the Under Secretary yesterday.* We have no information about the second paragraph, but I may state to the House—what I am sure the hon. Gentleman is aware of already—that no distinction is drawn between Boer and Briton in the matter of medical treatment.
§ CAPTAIN DONELANIs there an abundance of pure spring water at Simons Town?
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI have no reason to doubt that there is.