§ MR. HERBERT SAMUEL (Yorkshire, Cleveland)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether an Act has been passed by the Reichstag of the German Empire for the construction of a railway through the Cameroons to Lake Tchad; and whether His Majesty's Government propose to construct a light railway from the Niger to Zaria in order to develop the cotton-growing industry and the general trade of Northern Nigeria, and with a view to the continuation of such a railway to Kano and ultimately to the Lake Tchad region.
§ MR. LYTTELTONI have no information as to the German railway beyond the statement which appeared in the Press on the 24th instant, to the effect that His Imperial Majesty had signed a Bill for the construction of a railway from the Cameroons to Lake Chad, and that a sum equivalent to £650,000 was required for the first 100 miles. A survey for a railway from the Niger to Zaria was completed last year, but no decision to construct such a railway has yet been taken.