§ * SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT (Sheffield, Ecclesall)I beg to ask permission to explain that I have been reported in the newspapers to have asked last night in the House whether the British relief column for Mafeking had been repulsed with loss. I did not, and should not, ask such a question. I asked whether the Boers attacking Mafeking had been repulsed with loss, and whether a prominent Boer commander had been taken prisoner, which is a very different question.