§ Mr. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)To ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that the president of the responsible Government Association declared recently, at a meeting hold in Johannesburg, that he had reliable information that the mine magnates wished to control the country for five years, during which time they intended to import thousands of free Chinese to extract the last ounce of gold from the mines, and then to retire and leave the Colony burdened with debt and swamped with Chinamen; and whether the Government will take measures to enforce the payment of the guarantee given by the mineowners to meet war expenses.
(Answered by Mr. Churchill.) I have read in the newspapers that such a statement was made and immediately 1400 contradicted. The undertaking given by certain mineowners was not a guarantee to pay, but only a guarantee to underwrite £10,000,000 of a loan to be raised by the Transvaal Government when the market conditions were favourable. Any such war contribution would, of course, need to be voted by the new Legislature under responsible government.