§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether the attention of His Majesty's Government has been directed to a letter of Lord Selborne, His Majesty's High Commissioner for South Africa, addressed to the Mayor of Pretoria, and published with Lord Selborne's authority, in which the High Commissioner bespoke the influence of the mayor on behalf of Sir Percy Fitzgerald, the leader of the Chinese Indentured Labour Party and the President of the Chamber of Mines, Johannesburg, who was about to speak at Pretoria in the electoral campaign now proceeding in the Transvaal Colony; whether this action of Lord Selborne, as the representative of the Crown and an Imperial Officer in South Africa, is in consonance with constitutional practice, and whether he has been called on by the Government for an explanation of his conduct and what communications, if any, have passed between the Government and Lord Selborne on the subject; and whether, in view of Lord Selborne's interference on behalf of a leading Party 127 politician in the Transvaal, the Government propose to retain him in the position of High Commissioner.
§ SIR H. CAMPBELL-BANNERMANI have nothing to add to the Answer given by my hon. friend the Undersecretary for the Colonies on Monday last.
§ ME. SWIFT MACNEILLIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that Lord Selborne was a Member of the Cabinet which established the Chinese Ordinance, that he was sent out to start its operations, and that that was the subject of a public protest in this House in the form of a Motion for adjournment which I myself moved?
§ [No Answer was returned.]