HC Deb 28 July 1904 vol 138 cc1455-6
SIR ERNEST FLOWER (Bradford, W.)

To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can state the progress of the negotiations between His Majesty's Government and the Standard Bank of South Africa.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) I presume that the hon. Member refers to the claims of the bank in regard to the specie commandeered by the Government of the late South African Republic; if so, the answer is that there has been a considerable correspondence between the Colonial Office and the Standard Bank on behalf of itself and other South African banks. In the result of that correspondence, while sincerely regretting the loss sustained by the banks, I have seen no reason to alter the view taken by my predecessor, that the banks cannot claim for their commandeered property a compensation which His Majesty's Government have been obliged to refuse to other large companies who suffered losses. an injunction in the case of a range near a large centre of population.