§ SIR CHARLES DILKEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the attention of the Colonial Office has been called to the terms on which the New Caledonia-Queensland cable was laid for the Société Général des Télégraphes Sous-marins by the Sociéte´ Général des Téléphones; and whether the agreement between the 1091 companies purports to place relations with the public at the Queensland end of the cable under regulations made by the French Ministry of the Marine, and shows the French Submarine Cable Company to be bound to act in conformity with the directions of the French Government in all matters which concern connections with other lines, the company being bound to have none but French directors.
§ MR. BRODRICK (for Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN)I have no information as to the terms of the arrangement between the Soeiété Général des Télégraphes Sousmarins and the Société Général des Téléphones, but the conditions mentioned in the hon. Member's question were laid down in the French law of 1893, under which the establishment of the cable was authorised.