§ MR. T. W. RUSSELL (Tyrone, S.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he can state by whose authority, and for what reason, Major Trenchard attacked the natives of the Opopo country and burned six villages; whether three columns of men have been sent to pacify the country lying between the Niger and Cross Rivers; and what is the object to be attained by the sacrifice 620 of human life and the expenditure involved.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) In the absence of any mention of dates, it is to be inferred that the Question refers to a patrol, conducted by Major Trenchard, with 211 native troops, between the 4th of March and the 11th of April last. The "Opopo country" cannot be traced, but a district called the "Ohoho" district was visited by Major Trenchard in connection with the patrol in the Ibibio district which, as stated in my answer to the Question put by the right hon. Member for the Forest of Dean Division of Gloucestershire on the 3rd of March, † had been sanctioned by my predecessor. The country traversed is a very wild one. The object was to take away the war guns and arms of precision in the hands of the natives, to open the district to trade, and to bring it under Government control, the natives having refused to give up criminals, and any attempt to arrest an offender being immediately met by armed resistance. The casualties on the side of the Protectorate troops were nil, and appear to have been very small on the side of the opposing natives. It was found necessary to burn a number of villages, but the huts destroyed on these occasions are not of a permanent character, and are quickly reconstructed. The districts traversed by Major Trenchard and the Ibibio patrol already referred to lie between the Cross River and the Niger, and it is to be presumed that the operations mentioned in the concluding portion of the Question are identical with these two patrols. In any case, I have no reason to believe that any active operations are at present in progress between the two rivers.