§ MR. D. A. THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, seeing that the labour in the Transvaal coal mines is supplied by Kaffirs, he will say if difficulty has been experienced in obtaining such labour since the war; and whether he can state what the output of coal from the Transvaal mines has been since the 31st of December last and the corresponding output in 1899.
§ MR. J. CHAMBERLAINI do not know the answer to the first part of the Question. In reply to the second part, the latest returns in my possession as to coal output are, for January and February, 326,000 tons. No similar figures for 1899 are available, but for the corresponding period in 1898 the output was 230,000 tons.