HC Deb 29 March 1906 vol 154 cc1553-4
MR. CHARLES CRAIG (Antrim, S.)

I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he is aware that of the four members of the Committee appointed by His Majesty's Government to inquire into certain matters in South Africa, preparatory to granting self-government to † See (4)Debates,cliv., 290. † See (4)Debates,cliv., 875. the Transvaal, one, Lord Sandhurst, has held office in a Liberal Administration, as Under-Secretary of State for War, when, the present First Lord of the Treasury was head of that Department, and that another member of the Committee, Sir West Ridgway, was the Liberal candidate for the City of London, at the recent General Election; and whether, having regard to the fact that the matters into which the Committee will inquire and upon which they will report are political in their character, he will consider the. desirability of appointing a fresh Committee with a non-political personnel.

SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMAN

There is nothing political in the character of the Committee. Its members deserve, and, I doubt not, will receive the public confidence.

MR. ARNOLD-FORSTER (Croydon)

Is it not the fact that two of the gentlemen on the Committee are notorious and avowed partisans of the Government?

MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.)

Was not the right hon. Gentleman who asks this Question himself a member of a political Commission which was sent out by his Government to South Africa and with but little result, or no result whatever?

[No Answer was made.]