§ MR. YOXALL (Nottingham, W.)To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) whether he has received any recommendations or suggestions from the Government of the Transvaal Colony that the cost of the constabulary force should and may with safety be reduced; (2) and whether he will consider the advisability of charging the cost of preserving order between Kaffirs and Chinese on the Rand to the companies owning the mines.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Lyttelton.) (1) I have not recently received any recommendation as to the reduction of the South African Constabulary, the estimated cost of which for the current year is £1,110,300 as compared with a sum of £1,520,000 voted for the previous year. (2) The duty of preserving order within the compounds falls upon the mining companies, who employ their own 1186 Chinese police, for whom they pay. The ordinary town police force, or South African Constabulary, would only be called in under exceptional circumstances.