§ SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if the Belgian Government in annexing the Congo has agreed to recognise the validity of native communal tenure in land, the right of the native population in any part of the Congo to trade in the commercial produce of the soil with merchants of all nationalities, and the right of merchants of all nationalities to acquire land for the purpose of erecting trading stations, and opening direct trade relations with the natives.
§ The following Question also was on the Paper—
SIR GILBERT PARKERTo ask the Prime Minister whether His Majesty's Government is able to assure the House 40 that the British reply to the Belgian Government's despatch of 12th July last will be forwarded without delay, and that it will be in harmony with the Resolution accepted by His Majesty's Government, and unanimously voted by this House on 26th February last.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYNo communication has been received from the Belgian Government since the Papers communicated on 13th July last by the Belgian Minister in London, which were published in Africa No. 4 (1908). In regard to the second Question of my right hon. friend I have to say that a reply to the Papers has recently been despatched, and will be laid before the House in due course.