§ Sir GEORGE WHITEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the Baptist Missionary Society in the Congo have for a long time been denied their rights under the Berlin Act to obtain sites for mission stations, whilst Roman Catholic missions are freely granted whatever land they may require; and whether, as the Act referred to guarantees the right to erect buildings and organise missions belonging to any creed, free of any restriction or impediment whatsoever, he will call the attention of the Belgian Government to this violation of our treaty rights?
§ Sir E. GREYI have recently received a letter from the Baptist Missionary Society on the subject of the difficulties the society is experiencing in obtaining sites for missions in the Congo. Of course, no improper difficulties should be placed in the way of the society, and it should receive as favourable treatment as any other religious mission. I propose to instruct His Majesty's Minister in Brussels to make representations on the society's behalf.