§ Mr. JOYCEasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, whether he can say if there have been many inquiries made as to the whereabouts of British subjects who were engaged in civil pursuits in South Africa during the period of the late war; can he say whether a record has been kept of all deaths from disease, wounds, or other causes of such persons during the same time; and, if not, will steps be taken to prepare such a list, seeing that insurance companies refuse, in the absence of a certificate of death, to accept circumstantial evidence of such deaths and put the relatives of such missing persons to the expense of asking leave of the courts to presume death?
§ Colonel SEELYNumerous inquiries have been addressed to the Colonial Office of the kind referred to by my hon. Friend, and the Colonial Governments have, at the request of the Secretary of State, readily assisted in endeavouring to trace missing persons. The Secretary of State does not, however, think that he can fairly ask them to incur the inconvenience and expense of preparing such a list, but inquiry will be made in any particular case which my hon. Friend may bring to notice.