Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies, in view of the new regulations which have been made by the Colonial Office excluding from the civil and police services at Honk Kong, the Straits Settlements, and the Federated Malay States all British subjects who are not of pure European descent on both sides, whether the Colonial Office has framed any rules to determine how many generations an Asiatic family must reside in Europe before it can acquire pure European descent?
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTMay I ask if the right hon. Gentleman has con- 1082 sidered whether these regulations would exclude from the services of the Crown in the Colonies of which he has charge certain of his colleagues on the Front Bench, who are as proud of their Asiatic descent as if they had been Plantagenets?
Mr. HARCOURTI should be sorry to exclude any of my colleagues from offices to which they might reasonably aspire.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies with regard to the Royal Proclamation of 1858, guaranteeing to the inhabitants of the territories previously administered by the East India Company that, so far as may be, of whatever race or creed, they should be freely and impartially admitted to offices in the Royal service the duties of which they might be qualified by their education, ability, and integrity, duly to discharge, whether that proclamation applied to the inhabitants of the Straits Settlements?
Mr. HARCOURTI have nothing to add to what I stated in reply to my hon. Friend's question on 22nd February.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTMay I ask the right hon. Gentleman whether in that answer he said that the Proclamation did apply to the Colony at the time?
Mr. HARCOURTI think I answered the question fully on 22nd February, or, at all events, as fully as I felt able to answer.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTCan the right hon. Gentleman for my benefit and for the benefit of other Members of the House, give a simple "Yes" or "No" to the question whether this proclamation did or did not apply to this Colony?
Mr. HARCOURTThere are few things I would not do for my hon. Friend except giving a plain "Yes" or "No" to an involved question.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that in the Legislative Council of the Straits Settlements, on the 9th February, the hon. Tan Jiak Kim, the only Chinese member of the Council, asked whether it was the case that a regulation, had been made excluding from the Civil Service of the Colony all British subjects who were not of pure European descent on both sides; and that the hon. Tan Jiak Kim also asked that the Government of the Colony should lay upon the Council 1083 Table all papers and correspondence between the Secretary of State for the Colonies and the Governor of this Colony dealing with the limiting of the class of persons qualified for admission into the Civil Service, and, in particular, Papers designated Eastern No. 67 (36,819/04), Secrstary of State's Despatch No. 283 of 8th December, 1904, Eastern No. 67 (12,160/08), Secretary of State's Despatch No. 225 of 23rd September, 1908, and Eastern No. 67 (34,270/10); whether he is aware that the local Colonial Secretary, in refusing to give the information, replied that the Secretary of State had already informed the House of Commons that he does not consider that it would not be practicable to publish any Papers on the subject; and whether he will cause to be issued to the natives of the Colony some explanation of the reason for the erection of this colour bar against them?
Mr. HARCOURTMy attention has been drawn to a newspaper report of the questions asked by Mr. Tan Jiak Kim, who is a personal friend of mine, and the replies given by the Colonial Secretary of the Straits Settlements. As I have already stated, I should be ready to consider the question of British-born Chinese or Malays being admitted to the Cadet Service if there were any chance of such candidates being successful in the competition, and if there were a local demand for the concession.
Mr. MacCALLUM SCOTTIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that there are Chinese students who have passed very high in examinations, and does he throw any reflection upon the capacity of Chinese students to pass examinations?