§ MR. C. P. SCOTT (Lancashire. Leigh)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether, before the month of September, 1899, the Government were in possession of information that, in the event of war breaking out with the Transvaal, the Orange Free State would take the side of the sister Republic, and that this country would have to face the combined forces of the two States; and, if not, at what period this information reached them.
§ MR. A. J. BALFOURI do not quite know what the hon. Gentleman means by this question. There was no treaty that I am aware of between the Orange Free State and the Transvaal Republic of an offensive character.
§ MR. C. P. SCOTTI referred to the Report, a copy of which has within the last few days been placed on the Library, issued by the Intelligence Department of the War Office about four months before the war began, in which it is stated that—
§ *MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! Notice had better be given of the question.