§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the, Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that Sir J. H. de Villiers, the Chief Justice of Cape Colony, has expressed a wish that his correspondence with Sir Alfred Milner should be published; and can he explain why he has not complied with the desire of the Chief Justice. This is the question which the right hon. Gentleman did not like to answer on Friday.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN, Birmingham, W.)The statement the hon. Member has added to the question is entirely without foundation.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg pardon, it is absolutely true.
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINSir J. H. de Villiers informed me in August last that the letters, of which I sent him copies, were only part of the correspondence, which included other letters to President Kruger, Mr. Reitz, and Sir A. Milner. He added that while he had come to the conclusion that he ought not to object to the publication of the letters in my possession, he thought it would have been better that the whole of the correspondence should have been published. This he was aware I was unable to do, as I had not received any of the 37 other letters to which he referred. Otherwise I should have had no objection to publishing them also.