§ MR. FELL (Great Yarmouth)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if the instalment of annuity of £319,112 to be paid to the National Debt Commisssioners for the Uganda Railway will be payable in full each year until the debt for the construction of that railway is extinguished, or will the annuity be reduced by the amount of any annual profits which may be earned by the railway: and to whom will the railway belong when the debt is paid off.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe annuity will be payable in full for the present as it is considered that the interests both of the British taxpayer and of the East African and Uganda Protectorates will be better served by applying the annual profits to the development and extension of the railway with a view to increasing still further the profits derived from it. If the present arrangements are continued, the railway will belong to the Imperial Government when the debt is paid off.