§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSE (Bristol, E.)To ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether under the law of the late South African Republic mine managers in the Transvaal were required to render to the Government, on prescribed forms, returns showing the number of persons employed in the mine and the results obtained; whether before the war these records were available to the public; whether since the war some undertaking has been given to the mine owners by which these records are treated as confidential, and are no longer accessible to the public; and, if so, whether the Government will give instructions that these and all similar returns shall again be made accessible to the public.
(Answered by Mr. Churchill.) The regulations requiring returns from the mines for statistical purposes appear to be the same now as they were under the law of the late South African Republic. The Secretary of State is not informed as to whether or to what extent the present practice differs from that before the war as to permitting access to these records, but will make inquiry. Lord Elgin is clearly of opinion that the fullest possible information should be accessible to the investing public.