§ Mr. SNELLasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, seeing that the sole reason for the deportation of ex-King Prempeh was stated by the then Governor of the Gold Coast to be the failure of the Ashantis to produce 5,000 ounces of gold, alleged to have been due from a former ruler, and that there is no record of any hostile act having been committed against the British Government, the Governor of the Gold Coast, or the forces under his command, by Prempeh or any of the Ashantis under his control, the Government is considering the repatriation of ex-King Prempeh?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREThe failure of Prempeh to produce more than 698 ounces of gold instead of the 50,000 ounces due and demanded under the Treaty of 1874 was only one of several acts and omissions which convinced Governor Maxwell that his pretended submission was only a pretence in order to enable him to get rid of the troops and resume his previous intractable attitude. The Secretary of State sees no reason to doubt that Prempeh's deportation was necessary in the interests of Ashanti, but he has already been in communication with the Governor as to the possibility of allowing him to return and proposes to discuss the matter further with him when he comes on leave next moth.