§ MR. KEIR HARDIE (Merthyr Tydvil)To ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the despatch issued by Lord Carnarvon in 1874 [Cd. 1121], in which he condemned the assignation of convicts as servants to private employers or to companies, is still recognised by the Colonial Office; and, if so, what action is being taken to enforce its provisions in South Africa.
(Answered by Mr. Churchill.) Lord Carnarvon's dospatch was addressed to the Governor of a Crown Colony. The system of convict and prison labour which prevails in the Cape Colony and in Natal is a matter properly within the control of the Parliaments of those Colonies and of the Ministers responsible thereto.