§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies, why, when Mr. Conyngham Greene, C.B., visited the Colonial Office on the 6th November, was the late Agent of the British Government at Pretoria not accorded an interview with the Colonial Secretary; when Mr. Rhodes visited the Colonial Office on the 6th February, 1896, immediately after the 430 Jameson raid, was he received by the Colonial Secretary in a private interview which lasted for two hours, and at which no official except Lord Selborne was present; and what is the reason that a courtesy given to Mr. Rhodes after the raid was denied to Mr. Conyngham Greene.
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINThe first statement is based on inaccurate information. I did not see Mr. Conyngham Greene on the 6th November, because I had arranged to see him on the 10th November, a day which was more convenient to both of us. I have had the fullest conversations with him since his return. The answer is in the affirmative, except that I think the interview was much shorter than two hours. It is not usual for the officials of the Colonial Office to be present at private interviews.