§ MR. SMEATON (Stirlingshire)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the unrestricted powers of trading in India rubber, which the West African Produce Company possess in 4,000 square miles of the Sierra Leone Protectorate, confer a monopoly of trading in India rubber or in any other kind of forest produce on that company in the whole or any part of the specified area; whether any other trader or company can go into the region covered by the concession and trade in India rubber or in any other kind of forest produce; and can the native sell his rubber to whomsoever he will.
§ THE UNDERSECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. CHURCHILL, Manchester, N.W.)The Secretary of State cannot undertake to interpret the meaning of these concessions, which is a matter for the Courts of the Colony, but he is advised that it is doubtful, having regard to the law of Sierra Leone, whether the concessions are valid.