§ MR. WALROND (Devonshire, Tiverton)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if it is proposed to confer any preferential privileges upon the Transvaal in addition to those entailed by the imperial guarantee of its new loan; how far the Government are prepared to follow the principle of guaranteeing loans to self-governing Colonies, other than the Transvaal, who may require capital sums, so as to avoid the friction which may arise from the special 1158 advantages to be conferred on one particular Colony; and whether there is any precedent for a loan raised by the Government of a self-governing Colony being guaranteed by the Imperial Government for the purpose of rendering the Government of that Colony independent of a section of its electorate.
§ MR. RUNCIMAN (for Mr. CHURCHILL)The hon. Member propounds a variety of Questions the Answers to which cannot be compressed into such a short and succinct statement as would be satisfactory to the House at this moment. My right hon. friend has already stated in answer to a Question by the hon. Member for Mid Armagh that the Minister responsible for the Transvaal Loan Bill will no doubt be prepared to make a full statement upon the merits of that Bill at the proper time, and he would also refer the hon. Member to an exhaustive reply given by my right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer to a Question by the right hon. Member for St. George's on 5th June, † in which he gave precedents for Imperial guarantees for loans raised on behalf of self-governing Colonies.