SIR GILBERT PARKERI beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Orange River Colony intends to float a new loan of £1,500,000, which will include the establishment of a fund for Dutch people in necessitous circumstances, to the amount of £750,000, together with a Government land settlement scheme representing £65,000, and a Church Industrial Colony for poor whites representing £27,500; and whether it is the intention of this Government to guarantee the loan.
§ COLONEL SEELYThe Orange River Colony Legislature passed a Bill last session to authorise a loan for £1,500,000, for various purposes, some of which are referred to in this Question. It was proposed to allocate £750,000 of this sum to the establishment of a fund for assistance by way of loans to those in necessitous circumstances, and for the promotion and assistance of farming and industrial undertakings in accordance with a resolution adopted by the House of Assembly. But there was no indication either in the Bill or in the debates on the Bill that the benefits of this loan should be confined to those of His Majesty's subjects who are of Dutch descent, and the Secretary of State regrets that the suggestion should have been made from here. There has been no official request from the Orange River Colony Government for an Imperial guarantee, and until such request is made I am not in a position to make any statement.
In reply to a remark by Sir GILBERT PARKER, the purport of which did not reach the Gallery—
§ COLONEL SEELYsaid: I at once accept the hon. Member's disclaimer. It is undesirable to inflame racial feeling in South Africa.