§ Mr. GINNELLasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware of the statement made from experience by Lord Stanmore in the House of Lords on the 16th July, 1907, that it was easy for white men to outwit natives of the Pacific Islands of their property and to overreach and exploit them, because they will make any sacrifice, however improvident, to indulge a momentary want; whether he is aware that Lord Stanmore, when High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, protected the natives against the sharp practices of whites, nullified agreements into which natives had been seduced for inadequate consideration, and in some cases deprived Europeans of property that they had unfairly acquired from natives; whether Lord Stanmore is now chairman of the Pacific Phosphate Company, which holds for a nominal consideration a monopoly of the phosphate on Ocean Island; and if he will explain why the rule against sharp practice on the natives enforced by Lord Stanmore is not applied to this company?
Mr. HARCOURTI have no reason to doubt that Lord Stanmore, when Governor of Fiji and High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, protected the interests of the natives in the case of any concessions which Europeans endeavoured to secure for inadequate considerations. The terms of the concession on Ocean Island of the Pacific Phosphate Company have recently been revised. Under the revised conditions the company pays a royalty of 1s. a ton instead of 6d. a ton, th additional royalty being set apart for the benefit of the natives as a whole, and the company also makes a larger payment than before to the individual occupiers of the land from which the phosphate is removed. Lord Stanmore is no longer the chairman of the company. He died two years ago.