§ MR. ASHLEY (Lancashire, Blackpool)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the fact that on Sunday last Lord Selborne received a petition from coolies employed at Jumpers Deep Mine, in which they declared that they did not want to go home, and that if they were compelled to do so they wanted the balance of their three years' wages, as they had given up situations in China; and will he state to the House the exact terms of this appeal against repatriation.
§ MR. CHURCHILLLord Selborne reports that the purport of the petition was to state that they had come to the Transvaal for the purpose of earning money where with to support their families in China; that they had heard they were going to be compelled to return to China and that if the Government compelled them to return to China without fault on their part before they had served their three years' contract they prayed that they might be paid the money they would otherwise have earned during the three years and on which they had been reckoning.
§ MR. LEHMANN (Leicestershire, Market Harborough)Are these the same coolies who petitioned Lord Selborne that they might be continued to be flogged.
§ MR. CHURCHILLI admit there seems to be a family resemblance.