§ MR. BENNETT (Oxfordshire, Woodstock)To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the attention of His Majesty's Government has been drawn to the disclosures of the Rev. H. M. Whiteside respecting a continuation of atrocities in the Congo State; whether His Majesty's Government are aware that the statements of Mr. Whiteside point to a state of affairs now prevailing identical with that discovered more than a year ago by the Congo Commission of Inquiry; and whether His Majesty's Government, in view of the successive delays of the Congo Government in effecting reforms, will consider the advisability of again sounding the Powers responsible for the creation of the Congo State with the object of bringing about a Conference of those Powers to consider the principles and practices applied on the Congo, which are responsible for the atrocities existing in that territory.
(Answered by Secretary Sir Edward Grey.) I have not yet received the Report on his journey into the interior which I understand Mr. Whiteside is going to submit. It would not be advisable to make the suggested communication to the Powers until we see what effect is produced by the decrees, which it is hoped will shortly be issued, for the reform of the administration of the Congo State. We have already expressed our opinion of the urgency of not delaying these reforms.