§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTON (Tower Hamlets, Poplar)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has received any further particulars or information in regard to the finances of the Transvaal and Orange River Colony since the telegraphic despatch of Lord Milner of 1st February; and, if so, will he now lay the despatches upon the Table.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) It will be necessary for me to elucidate 227 certain matters by further communication with Lord Milner before laying Papers, which I hope to do at an early date.
§ MR. SYDNEY BUXTONTo ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will lay upon the Table a Return containing the particulars of Lord Milner's original Budget estimate of the revenue and expenditure of the Transvaal and Orange Free State for 1903–4, and of the Inter-Colonial Budget (as mentioned in his despatch of 1st February), together with his latest revised estimate of the same Budgets.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) The particulars as to the Budgets of the Transvaal, Orange River Colony, and of the Inter-Colonial Budget will be found at pp. 354 sqq. of Cd. 1895. I will lay the desired Return upon the Table at an early date.
§ SIR ROBERT REID (Dumfries; Burghs)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will lay upon the Table a Return of all sums paid by this country since the end of the war in respect of the Transvaal or Orange River Colony beyond the actual cost of the war, with a statement of the application of such sums and of any moneys repaid on account thereof.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) The sums referred to and the purposes of the expenditure are given in the Civil Services Additional Estimates, 1902–3, dated 3 rd November 1902, and Civil Services Supplementary Estimates, 1902–3, dated 24th February, 1903. They amount to £8,000,000 and £1,000,000 respectively, of which £3,000,000 have, as was intended, been repaid.