§ GENERAL RUSSELL (Cheltenham)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Roman Catholic church at Newcastle, Natal, has been burnt by the Boers, and the sacred images on it mutilated and destroyed; and whether, in the claim for compensation to be exacted at the conclusion of the war, reparation will also be made to the Roman Catholics of that district for this destruction of their place of worship.
§ THE SECRETARY or STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN, Birmingham, W.)Information has been received that the Roman Catholic chapel has been burnt. Mr. Chamberlain is of opinion that this ease is clearly one in which a claim for compensation out of the indemnity to be raised from the Boer States, may properly be entertained, subject of course to the prescribed inquiry as to the actual losses sustained.
§ MR. WILLIAM REDMOND (Clare, E.)Arising out of the answer, may I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether he has any objection to granting a Return showing how many Catholic churches were burnt by the English in Ireland?
§ [No answer was returned.]