§ Mr. NEVILLEasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether Lord Chelmsford communicated with the Colonial Office before or after his refusal to remove the deadlock between the two Chambers in Queensland by swamping the Upper Chamber; and, if so, whether the Colonial Office then approved, and still approve, Lord Chelmsford's refusal on the ground that a question so vitally affecting the relations of the two Houses should be submitted to the people at a General Election?
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Mr. HARCOURTAny communications which might have passed on this subject would have been strictly confidential, and I must decline on well-established principle to express my own personal view upon a matter with which I had no concern.