§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been directed to the agitation by capitalists in Cape Colony for the suspension of the Cape Constitution, and whether he has received any communications from the Cape Cabinet on the subject; whether the suspension of the Cape Constitution, which was created by an Act of the Imperial Parliament, can be effected by any method, and, if so, by what method, other than that of legislation in the Imperial Parliament; and, whether he will give an undertaking that the sanction of the Imperial Parliament be a preliminary to any alteration or modification of the Cape Constitution.
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINI am not aware of any agitation by capitalists on the subject; but I have received through the Governor of the Cape Colony a petition addressed to him by forty-two members of the Cape Parliament in favour of a suspension of the Constitution of the Cape Colony; but I have not yet received the observations of the Cape Ministers upon it. The present Cape Constitution was created by letters patent and local legislation. I understand that for the suspension of the Cape Constitution an Act of the Imperial Parliament would be required.