§ * SIR JOHN DICKSON - POYNDER (Wiltshire, Chippenham)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies what steps have been taken since the annexation of the Orange Free State and the Transvaal in 1900, with a view to British colonisation in those territories; whether any surveys have been made to ascertain what lands are available for settlers from the United Kingdom; what roads or other facilities of access and development are required; what methods of sub-division and tenure are best calculated to promote the establishment of an agricultural and pastoral population; and whether the Government will forthwith consider means by which these parts of the Empire may be most speedily and effectively colonised upon the same principles that have been applied with conspicuous success in other dependencies of the Crown.
§ * MR. CHURCHILLI regret to say that it is impossible within the limits of a Question to answer the hon. Member's queries in detail. The last reports on the subject of land settlement which have been published to Parliament will be round in Cd. 2,482 and Cd. 3,563, and I shall be happy to send the later reports for the year ended 30th June, 1903, to the hon. Member for his perusal. Up to 30th June, 1905, about £2,200,000 had been expended on land settlement in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony out of the guaranteed loan. The amount of land acquired in the Orange River Colony is over 1,000,000 acres, at a cost of £850,000, and about 700 heads of families have been settled under the Settlers' Ordinance; nearly 1,000,000 acres have been purchased at a cost of about £500,000. The hon. Member will therefore see that the matter has engaged the serious and benevolent attention of the administration of the two Colonies, but the result has not so far been as satisfactory as could have been desired. Settlers require considerable capital, and there have been several bad seasons recently.
§ * SIR JOHN DICKSON -POYNDERHas a survey ever been instituted for the Transvaal, and a return of the ownerships obtained?
§ * MR. CHURCHILLI should like notice of that Question.