§ SIR W. EVANS GORDONI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the attention of the Colonial Secretary has been drawn to the character of the recent application of the Municipal Corporations Act, 1897, in Tonga at village, Natal; whether he is aware that the licensing officer of that division declined to renew for this year the trading licenses of the larger portion of the Indian storekeepers, on the ground of their having failed to keep their business books in the English language; and whether, seeing that the licensing officer is the nominee of the local council or board, which is the sole court of appeal from his decisions, and that the members of such council or board are chiefly storekeepers, he will take steps to protect such Indian subjects from such a punishment as the loss of their livelihood and total ruin.
§ MR. CHURCHILLI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on the 18th to the hon. Member for the Brentford Division of Middlesex†with regard to the Dealers' Licences Act to which I presume it is intended to refer. Inquiry will be made with regard to the particular case referred to.