§ MR. EMMOTT (Oldham)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Memoranda giving examples of injuries suffered by British subjects in the Congo Free State
† See (4) Debates, cxxxii., 975.528 mentioned in the third paragraph of page 84 of Whits-book, Africa, No. 1 (1904), have been sent to the Government of the Congo Free State; and, if so, whether a copy will be laid upon the Table.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Earl PERCY, Kensington, S.)The answer to the first Question is in the affirmative. These matters were dealt with locally. The Memoranda were communicated to the Congo Government inconsequence of the doubt expressed in their Note of 17th September as to the statement that the time of His Majesty's Consul had been engrossed by inquiries into the grievances of British subjects. As they have no connection with the general complaint by His Majesty's Government of the system of administration prevailing in the Free State, it is not proposed to lay the Papers.