§ SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central)To ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if the records of the Colonial Office bear out the calculation that there are 200,000 British and 55,000 Foreign shareholders in the mines of the Transvaal besides 10,000 in South Africa; and if the attention of the Secretary of State has been called to the fact that the, property of these investors, many being 1083 persons of small means, has suffered a depreciation of upwards of £20,000,000 since the announcement of the policy of His Majesty's Government in South Africa; and further, if he can indicate what proportion of the real estate in the Transvaal and Orange River Colony is in British hands.
(Answered by Mr. Churchill.) The records of the Colonial Office do not enable the Secretary of State to answer the first part of the Question as to the number of investors, or to add to what is common knowledge as to the second. The Secretary of State is aware that depreciation has taken place recently in the shares in Transvaal mines. These investments are of a speculative nature and subject to considerable fluctuation from time to time. Their depreciation has been constant during the last two years, and has become pronounced since
| 1902. | 1903. | 1904. | |
| £ | £ | £ | |
| United Kingdom | 906,129 | 926,393 | 475,638 |
| United States | 229,200 | 187,087 | 197,007 |
| Germany | 121,666 | 215,137 | 41,003 |
§ Particulars of the countries of origin are not yet available for the year 1905.