§ MR. JOHN ELLIS (Nottinghamshire, Rushcliffe)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies by whom the positions of Commissioner of Railways and Commissioner of Mines in the Transvaal are now filled; how long they have occupied the posts; what is the salary in each case; and what has been the previous experience and career of the Commissioners.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. LYTTELTON,) Warwick and LeamingtonSir P. Girouard is Commissioner of Railways. His salary has been fixed at £2,500 with a personal allowance of £1,000 in addition. During the war he occupied the post of Director of Military Railways and has held his present position since the railways were handed over to the Civil Government. He is a Royal Engineer office who rendered very distinguished, service in connection with the construction of railways in the Soudan War. Mr. Horace Weldon is acting in the appointment of Commissioner of Mines, the-salary of which is £2,000. I am not aware whether he draws a personal allowance. He was educated at the 791 Royal School of Mines in London and has had mining experience in the Isle of Man, the Lancashire Hematite Mines and the Rand Mines, where he went in 1893, working first as a miner and later as manager of several companies till war broke out, when he served in one of the Irregular Corps and in the Field Intelligence Department on General Buller's Staff. He was appointed Government Mining Engineer in 1901.