§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is await that a deputation representing 100,000 people of the Western Provinces waited upon Sir Alfred Milner and offered to help in every way possible His Majesty's forces in the field; whether he can give the terms of Sir Alfred Milner's reply to this address, and whether he has any, and, if so, what grounds for believing 1445 the deputation represented the number of coloured people of whom they assumed to be the representatives; and whether, having regard to British interests, the Government will give their sanction to placing arms in the hands of coloured people.
§ THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN, Worcestershire, E., for Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN)In reply to the first three paragraphs of the question, a full account of deputation, and of Sir A. Milner's reply will be found in Cd. 547, p. 34, and I have no other information. As to paragraph 4, the policy of His Majesty's Government has always been against giving arms to the coloured population of South Africa.