HC Deb 26 March 1907 vol 171 cc1636-7
MR. FELL

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, if he can supply any particulars of the mines in New Caledonia where the natives from the New Hebrides are to be engaged to work, whether they are gold, or silver, or what metal, and whether they are worked by underground or by open workings; and what is the annual death rate among the workmen employed in them.

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir EDWARD GREY,) Northumberland, Berwick

Such information as we possess respecting New Caledonia is contained in the Consular Report No. 3548, issued last year. The question of whether natives of the New Hebrides are to be engaged for work in New Caledonia, and the conditions under which, if engaged, they will work there is not one which should be addressed to His Majesty's Government or as to which they can reply. I may add further that the French authorities have hitherto possessed an unrestricted right of obtaining labour from the New Hebrides for New Caledonia, and that, though they are now bound by certain regulations, they retain jurisdiction over French citizens in the New Hebrides, as we do over British subjects.