§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether, in continuing Lord Selborne as Governor of the Transvaal in the position of paramount chief over all the chiefs and natives in the Transvaal Colony, regard has been had to the circumstance that Lord Selborne was a member of the British Cabinet which sanctioned the Labour Importation Ordinance, 1904, and who subsequently, as Governor of the Transvaal, administered that Ordinance and suggested many objections to the repatriation of the Chinese indentured labourers.
§ MR. CHURCHILLAll the circumstances of Lord Selborne's public and official career have always been and will always be considered by His Majesty's Government in regard to all matters in which his services are employed.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether it is the practice for a member of a British Cabinet to vacate that position for the purpose of carrying out as Governor of a Crown Colony a line of policy adopted by the Cabinet of which he was a member in that Colony; what precedents, if any, are to be found in support of that practice; whether it is the practice for a Colonial Governor, 1030 appointed by a Cabinet of which he was himself a Member to carry out a certain policy, to remain on a change of administration in the same office at the request of another Cabinet to carry out a different line of policy; what precedents, if any, are to be found in support of this practice; and on what grounds has Lord Selborne, under such circumstances, been retained in his present position in South Africa.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe circumstances in which Lord Selborne was appointed to his present position in South Africa were quite exceptional, and I am not aware of any precedent which exactly applies to those circumstances. The only part of the hon. Member's Question which touches the responsibility of His Majesty's present Government is the last, and in regard to that the Answer is that the grounds on which Lord Selborne retained office were that, as the representative of His Majesty, and thereby removed from all active participation in politics, he was willing to serve after the change of administration, and that His Majesty's present Government desired that he should continue in office.
§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLDo I understand that Lord Selborne, having been a member of the late Cabinet, went out to a Crown Colony to administer a certain policy there, and when that policy was reversed he remained to administer the new policy?
§ MR. CHURCHILLI do not think that is a sufficiently complete description of the situation.