§ MR. PIKE PEASE (Darlington)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies how many labourers from 479 Trinidad and other British possessions in the West Indies are now working on the Panama Canal.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe Answer given on behalf of my right hon. friend the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs on the 15th of May last showed that in September, 1906, over 10,000 men from these islands were at work in the engineering department and earthworks of the canal. I have no later information.
§ MR. PIKE PEASEI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies on what date the Courts decided that the contract entered into between the Commissioners and Trinidad labourers cannot be enforced; and by what Court was the decision pronounced.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe decision was, I understand, given by the Supreme Court of the United States of America, but I have at present no precise or official information, and inquiry is being made formally by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.