§ SIR BRAMPTON GURDON (Norfolk, N.)To ask the Under-Secretary of
†See Cols. 406, 407.674 State for the Colonies whether he can inform the House with respect to the statement made to the Swazis by the High Commissioner in September last, having reference to the establishment of direct Imperial control over their affairs, to their appeal for equitable settlement of disputed land questions, and to their claim to the revenue originally guaranteed for the maintenance of local native government.(Answered by Mr. Churchill.) Lord Selborne, when he met the paramount chief, the councillors, and people of the Swazi nation in September last, informed them that in the future he was to govern them in the name of the King as High Commissioner, and not as Governor of the Transvaal, and that their country would be governed by him as the King's own man, in the same way as he governs the countries of Khama and other chiefs in Bechuanaland. With regard to the Private Revenue Concession, which was cancelled on 16th February, 1905, Lord Selborne justified its cancellation on the ground that the King would now have to pay for the administration of the country, and that there was nothing to show in Swaziland for all the money which the paramount chiefs of Swaziland have received in times past. The amount due as having been collected between 1st November, 1899, and 16th February, 1905, has been converted into a Trust Fund, out of which the paramount chief will get £800 a year, in addition to a stipend of £1,000 a year from the Government. The question of land settlement stands over for the present.