* SIR CHARLES W. DILKEForest of Doan) (Gloucestershire,I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is within his knowledge that the system of stationing armed soldiers in villages to force the collection of rubber by natives still obtains in the Kasai region of the Congo; and that, owing to the demands thus made for rubber, the natives of Bakuba, Bakete, and Pianga districts have no time to cultivate their farms and are threatened with starvation, while the investigation held by the Congo authorities after the visit of the British Consul to the region was perfunctory and in part conducted by an official already involved in the charges of irregularity of administration.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir EDWARD GREY,) Northumberland, BerwickI have received reports from His Majesty's Consul at Boma on the condition of the natives in the Kasai region of the Congo State, which are being considered. Information to the effect stated in the Question has reached me from an independent source, but there has been no opportunity of corroborating it officially.