§ Mk. WEIR (Ross and Cromarty)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether loans granted to the Boers in the Harrismith district of South Africa are partly in money and partly in kind; if so, will he state what value is placed respectively on oxen and mules thus supplied; are the animals submitted to examination by a veterinary surgeon prior to the transaction being completed, and is a warranty given that they are sound.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain.) Loans to Boers are made, as a rule, one-third in cash and two-thirds in kind, to ensure the re-stocking of the farms instead of money being applied to the payment of debts. The values placed on oxen and mules are the cost prices, so far as can be ascertained, without deductions for loss or cost of forage. The animals are not submitted for veterinary examination, but passed on to farmers in exactly the same condition as received from the military, all sick being 266 excluded. No warranty is given by the military on receipt of the animals by the Colonial Government, nor by the Government on transfer to the farmers.