Mr. KINGasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he can now make a statement upon the case of the Oloye of Oye, who was recently ordered under threat of deposition to appear at Imo Hill, three days' journey from his home in Southern Nigeria; whether this order, amounting to virtual 2342 arrest, was given by Captain Blair, a travelling Commissioner, to whom the Oloye of Oye had sent two men who were robbers and murderers to be dealt with; whether this question was settled by Captain Blair before his return to England, or whether the Oloye of Oye and his native chiefs with him are still detained at Imo Hill; and whether the attention of the Colonial Office has been directed to the condemnation of this affair by the white population in Lagos as unjust to the native chiefs, and calculated to injure the high sense of British justice held by the natives?
§ Colonel SEELYThe following is a summary of the report which has been furnished on the incident in question: On the 25th of March a Government messenger brought before the District Commissioner a man arrested near Oye for illegal rubber tapping. He had caught another man, but as he was unable to bring more than one with him, he sent the second man to the Oloye, and asked the latter to send the prisoner to the Commissioner at Oke Imo. The Oloye failed to do this, although he came to that place himself when sent for. He was told that he would have to remain at the town of Ilesha until he produced the man. This he did, on 19th April, and was allowed to leave. I am not aware of any expression of opinion on the matter by the European population in Lagos.