MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what reason has been assigned by the German Government for the forcible seizure in September, 1900, by a German force, of that portion of the Congo Free State which had been leased by King Leopold of Belgium to Great Britain in 1894, and which was subsequently abandoned by Great Britain in deference to French and German objections; and do His Majesty's Government propose to acquiesce in that seizure.
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE ROF FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord CRANBORNE, Rochester)As I have already explained to my hon. friend on June 2nd last, the information we have received from the German Government does not include any mention of the incidents referred to in the Question. A delimitation of frontier in the region referred to is undoubtedly in course of being carried out. We have no reason to believe that Congolese rights over territory contiguous to our Protectorate have been affected.