§ MR. MANSFIELDI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can explain why the negotiations between Great Britain and France with regard to the claim for compensation for the murder of British Officers and men at Waima in 1893 have taken nearly eight years and are not yet completed; and also will he say what arrangements have been made for the widows and orphans pending the settlement of these prolonged negotiations.
§ VISCOUNT CRANBORNEThe delay in arranging for a settlement of the Waima incident has been due to the necessity of establishing to the satisfaction of the French Government that the incident took place in British territory, to the time required to come to an arrangement as to whether arbitration should be adopted as the method of settlement for several pending questions, of which the Waima incident is one, and, finally, as to which of these questions should go to arbitration first. Various payments have been made to the sufferers by His Majesty's Government in anticipation of the award.