SIR GILBERT PARKERI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Transvaal Government on its own behalf, or this Government on behalf of the Transvaal Administration, has entered into negotiations with the Portuguese Government concerning the recruitment of native labour in Mozambique for employment in the Transvaal mines; whether this Government has approached the Government of France, either by correspondence or through the French Minister in London, concerning the recruitment of natives in Madagascar for the Transvaal mines; and, if so, what reply has been given by the French Government.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe Transvaal Government recently approached through Lord Selborne the local Portuguese Administration upon questions connected with the recruitment of labour in Mozambique. His Majesty's Government has not so far made any communication to the French Government on the subject of recruitment of labour in Madagascar.