§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies the quantity of high-grade phosphate in Ocean Island, West Pacific, from the report made by the expert, Mr. E. Danvers Power, at Sydney in 1901, as proved by prospecting to that date, which that report says may be more than doubled, to find the actual quantity on the island; whether he can state the actual quantity ascertained independently of the Pacific Islands Company, now called the Pacific Phosphate Company; the approximate value of that quantity in England at current prices and, deduced from this, its value on Ocean Island?
Mr. HARCOURTI have not seen the report of the expert referred to by the hon. Member. No survey on behalf of the Government was made of the quantity of phosphate on Ocean Island in 1901. As to the value of the phosphate at that date, I 373W can add nothing to my reply of 18th December, 1912, to the question of the hon. Member for the Attercliffe Division of Sheffield.