§ MR. LONSDALE (Armagh, Mid.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information of communications having passed between the German Imperial Colonial Minister and the Prime Ministers of Cape Colony and the Transvaal, with reference to the proposed cession of Walfisch Bay to Germany; and whether he can make any statement on the subject.
§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Colonel SEELY,) Liverpool, AbercrombyMr. Merriman recently stated in the Cape House of Assembly, that the Cape, of which Colony Walfisch Bay forms part, had not the slightest intention of parting 743 with it, or with the control of it, and that they were acting with the other South African Governments in the matter.
§ SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend)May I ask if under the Constitution a Colony having responsible government could part with any portion of its territory without the assent of this Government?
§ * MR. SPEAKERThe hon. Member should give notice of that Question.