§ MR. PIRIE (Aberdeen, N.)I beg to ask whether instructions were sent to Lord Kitchener by the Government to 472 guide him in the negotiations with General Botha prior to the interview at Middelburg, and whether they could be laid on the Table of the House.
§ MR. BRODRICKI answered this question categorically yesterday.† The Government gave no definite instructions to Lord Kitchener before meeting General Botha, for the best of all reasons, that General Botha proposed to meet Lord Kitchener, and the Government were not in a position to know any of the proposals which General Botha might make. It was obviously impossible in these circumstances to instruct Lord Kitchener.