§ MR. BRIGHTI beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies when the practice of employing coloured convict labour in the gold mines of the Transvaal was first commenced; what is the number of such convicts now employed; what are the names of the mines in which and the conditions upon which they are employed; whether they work side by side with non-convicts; and whether he will consider the desirability of discontinuing this practice and employing the convicts upon Government work for the future.
§ MR. LYTTELTONI would refer the hon. Member to Answers which I gave on this subject to the hon. Member for Halifax in considerable detail on February 15th † and February 17th ‡ of last year. The practice has been in vogue since 1901. The number employed on the gold mines at the end of May of this year was 603; in 1904 there were 850, and they were employed on the Cinderella Mine and the Consolidated Main Reef Mine, and I assume are still employed there. The Transvaal Government will no doubt consider, when the accommodation in the prisons has been enlarged, whether the practice should be discontinued.
§ MR. BRIGHTIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that these powers were recorded for the first time in the last Blue-book?
§ MR. LYTTELTONI think that is not so, for in February I answered Questions about the practice throughout South
† See (4) Debates, cxxix., 1320‡ See (4) Debates, cxxx. 14.80 Africa, and that was long before the last Blue-book.