§ MR. HERBERT SAMUEL (Yorkshire, Cleveland)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the Tables appended to the Report of the Transvaal Native Affairs Department, dated 31st March, 1904, show, under the heading Vigilance, that the inspectors of that department, in a period of two years, took action in thirteen cases of ill-treatment suffered by native labourers employed at the mines, and in twenty-eight cases of complaints of labourers with reference to wages, while in the same period they dealt with 3,341 cases of offences committed, or alleged to be committed, by native labourers; whether these inspectors are appointed mainly for the purpose of protecting the natives; and if he can state whether all the inspectors are acquainted with the languages chiefly used by the natives or are accompanied by interpreters, and whether there is any means 175 by which the labourers are enabled to recognise an inspector.
§ *MR. LYTTELTONThe figures given are approximately correct. The duties of inspectors are described at pages 62 and 145 of Cd. 2025, page 20 of Cd. 904, and page 186 of Cd. 1551, and it will be seen that the definition of these duties has been made as wide as possible in order that the inspector may be able to "go into all questions affecting the comfort, health and happiness of natives employed in the mines, and to afford them opportunities of consulting him or of stating their grievances." I am not aware of the precise qualification of the inspectors or how they are recognised, but I have little doubt that they are all well known to the labourers. I will, however, make inquiry on the question. The importance of a knowledge of the language is fully recognised by the Transvaal Government and Sir Godfrey Lagden.