§ MR. SILCOCK (Somersetshire, Wells)To ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if his attention has been directed to the recent appointments to the Legislative Council in Nyasaland, and to the protests which have appeared in the local press; will he say whether two of the throe gentleman appointed are the local managers of large commercial companies who hold contracts with the Government; and, if so, whether he proposes to take any stops to secure that these gentlemen shall not negotiate contracts with the Government of which they are members.
(Answered by Colonel Seely.) My hon. friend has been good enough to show me the protests in the local press to which he refers. It is true that two of the three 634 gentlemen are the local managers of large commercial companies who hold contracts with the Government, but they are members of the Legislature and not of the Government. If any contract in which either of them is interested should be submitted by the Government to the Legislative Council he would no doubt abstain from taking part in the proceedings.