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Office, and that it would of course increase (1) if any Roman Catholic gentlemen the loss to sell post-cards for the value of were summoned by the High Sheriff to the stamp only, he will permit private serve on the County Donegal Grand companies to undertake the collection Jury at the recent Spring Assizes; (2) and delivery of halfpenny matter, in- whether he is aware that 70 per cent. of cluding post-cards and circulars, without the county cess of Donegal is paid by requiring royalty, licence duty, or other Roman Catholics, and that there are payment from the companies concerned. numbers of eligible Catholic gentlemen MR. HANBURY: To the first part in all respects competent to serve if of the hon. Member's Question the answer summoned; and (3) whether he can take is in the affirmative. The statement in any steps to secure due representation question was in accordance with the of Roman Catholics on Grand Juries? the report of the Select Committee of MR. GERALD BALFOUR: I have this House which was appointed to no information to enable me to reply to examine into the Estimates of the Revenue the first and second paragraphs. The Departments in July 1888, and upon qualifications of Grand Jurors are fixed which the hon. Member himself served. by Statute, and the Executive GovernAs regards the second portion, the Post- ment has no voice or control in the master-General is not prepared to permit selection of gentlemen to serve in that private companies to undertake the col- capacity. There are no religious dislection and delivery of post-cards, cir- abilities attaching to membership of culars, and other articles sent at the Grand Juries, and I do not think it halfpenny rate of postage. To do so would be desirable to alter the law so as would be to allow such Companies to to make religious opinions a qualification appropriate all the local business, which for membership. is probably the only remunerative part, and to leave to the Department the delivery over long distances, which is the SCHOOL main cause of the present loss.

COLOMBO GRAVING DOCK. SIR JOHN LENG (Dundee): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if the construction of the proposed graving dock at Colombo has been decided upon, and when a commencement will be made?

THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. J. CHAMBERLAIN, Birmingham, W.): The question is still under consideration, and it is hoped that a decision may be shortly arrived at.

SIR JOHN LENG: I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty if the propriety of a contribution to the construction of a graving dock at Colombo has been considered, and with what result?

THE FIRST LORD OF THE ADMIRALTY: The subject has been considered by a Committee of Colonial Office and Admiralty officers, whose Report has just been received.

GRAND JURY (COUNTY DONEGAL). MR. THOMAS B. CURRAN (Donegal, N.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland,

ATTENDANCE (BLACKROCK,
COUNTY DUBLIN).

MR. W. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) whether the compulsory Education Act of 1892, although formerly adopted by the Town Commissioners of Blackrock, county Dublin, over two years ago, cannot be carried into full operation owing to the refusal of the Town Commissioners to vote any of the funds required by the school attendance committee; (2) whether said refusal is based upon an opinion of the Town Commissioners' counsel to the effect that the attendance committee is not legally constituted, owing to the irregularity on the part of the National Education Board in the method of appointing the committee; (3) whether the official law adviser of the National Education Board holds that the committee is legally constituted; (4) whether, owing to this difference of legal opinion, the Town Commissioners still hesitate to vote the funds, although expressing themselves desirous of having the provisions of the Act enforced to their township; (5) whether the school attendance committee's officers in Blackrock have been working for more than two years past without pay; and (6) whether

WADELAI AND DUFFILEH.

*SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean): I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, with reference to recent visits by British parties from the Uganda side to points situate in the Nile territory leased to the Sovereign of the Congo State, whether it is to be understood that Wadelai and Duffileh are to be open to occupation both by British and by Congo State forces?

the National Education Board, whose
action is questioned on legal grounds,
will take steps to have the legal doubt
authoritatively removed or, failing this,
whether the Government in their pro-
mised Bill to amend the Act of 1892
will make provision for legalising, where
necessary, such school attendance com-
mittees, and paying such of the com-
mittees' officers as may be in the same
position as are the committee and its
officers in Blackrock, county Dublin?
MR. GERALD BALFOUR: The THE
Town Commissioners of Blackrock refuse STATE
to pay
the expenses of the School Attend-
ance Committee on the ground that the
provisions of the Act of 1892, as regards
the constitution of the Committee have
not been complied with. The replies to
the second, third, fourth, and fifth para-
graphs are all in the affirmative. As to
the last paragraph, I do not think it
would be possible for the National Board,
under the circumstances, to obtain the
decision of a Court of Law on the point
at issue, and this being so I do not see
what they can do beyond what they
have already done. The matter is one
that would naturally be dealt with by
any Amending Bill.

HORSE-BREEDING (IRELAND).

CAPTAIN MCCALMONT (Antrim, E.): I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland (1) if he could state to the House how many hackney sires were in the possession of the Congested Districts Board between 31st March 1894 and 31st March 1895, and what was their total cost as regards keep and maintenance; and (2) how many mares were served during this period, and of these how many belonged to occupiers of holdings at £5 and under?

UNDER SECRETARY OF FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. GEORGE CURZON, Lancashire, Southport): Officers from the Uganda Protectorate have occasionally visited the Upper Nile, but no such inference is to be drawn from their visits as that which is suggested by the right hon. Gentleman.

ARMY MEAT SUPPLIES.

MR. FIELD: I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War, whether he can give the proportion of frozen meat supplied to the troops at Aldershot during the months of June, July, August, and September of last year; whether he is aware that the authorities, after taking delivery of certain lots of frozen meat, it was subsequently condemned as unfit for consumption; whether losses fall on the Government or the contractor; and whether any similar loss has been reported regarding the supply of native meat?

THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE WAR OFFICE (Mr. J. POWELLWILLIAMS, Birmingham, S.): No frozen beef was issued at Aldershot during the months in question. Of frozen mutton the extreme limit of issue was one-fourteenth of the whole meat supply. No losses occurred in respect of frozen mutton or of refrigerated beef; but 5,328 lbs. of home-killed beef became MR. GERALD BALFOUR: During unfit for consumption during the very the period in question 19 hackney sires hot weather of last summer. The meat were in the possession of the Congested was received in good condition; but, Districts Board, and the cost of their owing to the manœuvres in progress, it keep and maintenance amounted to had to be kept longer than was desirable £1,520. In reply to the second para- and to be carried about from one camp graph, the number of mares is 1,209, the to another, under which process owners being all occupiers of holdings suffered deterioration. The loss might, valued at less than £20 a year, and by the terms of the contract, have been about seven-eighths of these were the charged to the contractor; but, under property of occupiers rated at £5 and the circumstances, it has been decided under. that the War Office shall bear it.

Mr. W. Field.

it

to his Dispatch of 4th February and the

FERTILIZERS ACTS. MR. FIELD: I beg to ask the Chief invitation to visit England? Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN: CorreIreland whether he can state how many spondence is going on on the subject, and Grand Juries have adopted the Fertilizers I am not able at present to give the hon. Acts, and made arrangement to have Member the information he desires. analyses made at reasonably small scales of charges; and whether any steps are being taken to oblige Grand Juries to adopt the Act, and make it operative within their districts?

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COAL TRADE (EXPORT). MR. FIELD: I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, whether his attention has been directed to the fact that the collieries on the north-east coast of Great Britain are likely to lose an export trade equal to 800,000 tons yearly, in consequence of the German State Railway authorities having reduced their rate from the coal districts to Stettin down to about 2s. 9d. a ton; and whether he can devise any remedy for this state of things, partially arising from transit freights?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD

EVICTION (COUNTY MONAGHAN). MR. D. MACALEESE (Monaghan, N.) I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland—(1) if he is aware that Patrick M'Quaide, of Gola county Monaghan, but at present a prisoner in Dundalk Gaol, on the committal order of Judge Boyd for contempt of court, was evicted from his holding on the estate of Percy Burrell, a minor, for

an

arrear of rent amounting to £20; (2) is he also aware that M'Quaide, in December last, proposed to pay £15 of this arrear, and asked to be restored to his farm at a reduced rent; and that the Burrell estate is now in process of sale take care that M'Quaide's right to purto the tenants thereon; and (3) will he chase, as an evicted tenant, be not prejudiced by the proceeding which led to the man's imprisonment?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR: I have no information either as to the amount

of the arrears of rent due by this man, satisfaction for payment of the arrears. or as to the amount offered by him in I believe the estate is for sale in the Land Judges Court, though no undertakings to purchase their holdings have

been received from the tenants in accordance with the rules of the Land ComOF TRADE (Mr. C. T. RITCHIE, Croy-mission. I can give no undertaking such don): I am informed that the railway as suggested in the last paragraph.

rate on coal from Silesia to Stettin has been reduced to 7s. 6d. per ton, and not to 2s. 9d. per ton as was at first reported and is quoted in the hon. Member's Question. It is also reported that the imports of all kinds of British coal into Stettin and Swinemünde amount to about 600,000 tons annually. The German railway authorities can fix their own freight charges, even at rates below

the cost of service.

PRESIDENT KRUGER.

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SIR ELLIS ASHMEAD-BARTLETT STATE FOR WAR (Mr. BRODRICK, (Sheffield, Ecclesall): I beg to ask the Surrey, Guildford): There is no scheme Secretary of State for the Colonies whe- in contemplation which would deprive ther he is now in a position to inform the Royal Scots Greys of their distinctive the House as to President Kruger's reply Scottish characteristics.

JOHANNESBURG PRISONERS.

whether he will lay upon the Table the COLONEL RUSSELL (Cheltenham): Instructions under which Colonel I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Richard Martin is to exercise authority the Colonies, whether four British sub- in the territory of the South African jects, the alleged leaders of the Rand at Chartered Company; whether that Johannesburg, were arrested more than authority extends to operations within ten weeks since on charges which have the district of the Chartered Company not been formulated, no preliminary in- north of the Zambesi; and, whether he vestigation having as yet been held; will lay upon the Table any Correwhether these gentlemen have recently spondence which has passed between been again consigned to close confinement, even ordinary exercise being prohibited; and, whether he will make representations so that they may be brought speedily to trial, and that, until found guilty and condemned, the rigour of their imprisonment may be relaxed?

MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN: I understand that the preliminary investigation has been completed, and that the State Attorney is considering whom he will decide to commit for trial. I learn by a telegram dated the 24th inst. that the conditions of imprisonment substantially remain as stated by me on the 5th inst. I am making representations on the subject of the prisoners being granted bail pending the trial.

CAPTAIN LOTHAIRE. COLONEL RUSSELL: I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, if he will state what is the present condition of the negotiations regarding the case of Captain Lothaire; whether this Officer is still in the employment of the Congo State; and, whether there is any prospect of his being brought speedily to trial on the charge of having illegally executed a British subject more than a year since?

MR. CURZON: Captain Lothaire will be tried before the Court at Boma, in the presence of the British Vice Consul, the right of appeal to the Superior Court of the Congo State at Brussels being reserved to Her Majesty's Government. We are informed that Captain Lothaire, who is in the service of the State, received on December 16th his orders of recall to the coast, which he had at once arranged to obey. It is thought at Brussels that he must be now at or near to Boma.

BRITISH SOUTH AFRICA.

SIR WILLIAM HARCOURT (Monmouthshire, W.): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies,

Her Majesty's Government and the Chartered Company with respect to the administration of the territory comprised within the Charter?

The

MR. J. CHAMBERLAIN: principle of Imperial control over the police force lately in the service of the Chartered Company will be applied north and south of the Zambesi. Sir R. Martin's present instructions apply to the territory south of the Zambesi. As regards territory to the north of the river, the question is being considered in conjunction with the Foreign Office. The correspondence on the whole subject is not yet complete, but Papers will be laid as soon as practicable.

SIR W. HARCOURT: Will the Instructions to Sir Richard Martin be laid on the Table? MR. J. tainly.

CHAMBERLAIN: Cer

FEE-GRANT (IRELAND).

MR. VESEY KNOX: I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether he can say what course the Government propose to take with reference to the fee-grant in Ireland for 1895-6?

MR. HORACE PLUNKETT (Dublin Co., S.): I beg to ask the Secretary to the Treasury, whether any decision has been come to as to allowing Ireland nineeightieths of the English supplementary fee-grant for education for the current year?

*MR. HANBURY: I have already explained what is the decision of the Government on every point with reference to the Irish fee-grant except that raised in the Question of my hon. Friend the Member for Dublin County. The Government recognise that an equitable claim exists for the payment to Ireland of a proportionate share of the supplementary English fee-grant for 1895-96, although no such share was allowed for in the original Estimates for 1895-96,

which calculated the nine-eightieths pro- *MR. CURZON: The information remised to Ireland only upon the original ceived by Her Majesty's Government is English fee-grant Estimate for 1894-95. to the same effect as that which has It is, of course, too late to make pro- appeared in the Press.

EGYPTIAN EXPEDITION.

The Commisvision for any further payment during sioners of the Caisse decided yesterday, the current year, but the claim will be by a majority of 4 to 2, to grant a credit dealt with in connection with the grant of £500,000 to the Egyptian Governunder the new system proposed for the ment from the General Reserve Fund coming year. for the purposes of the advance in the Nile Valley. The French and Russian Commissioners made a protest against this decision. In conformity with the decision of the Caisse, a sum of £200,000 was at once paid over to the Egyptian Government. Certain French bondholders have served a notice through the sioners of the Caisse, protesting against International Tribunals on the Commissioners of the Caisse, protesting against any payment from the Reserve Fund for the expenses of the expedition, and summoning them to appear on the 13th of April before the Tribunals.

MR. H. LABOUCHERE (Northampton): I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether France and Russia have stated that they are not prepared to agree to any withdrawal of funds from the Egyptian Caisse de la Dette for the costs of the Soudan Expedition; and whether of any the Powers have intimated that they are of opinion that the decision as to the withdrawal requires only the assent of a majority of the Great Powers ?

*MR. CURZON: The question of an advance from the General Reserve Fund for extraordinary expenses lies, not with the Great Powers, but with the Commissioners of the Caisse of the Public Debt. The Austrian, German, and Italian Governments have expressed themselves in favour of such an advance, but it lies with the Commissioners to decide whether they will proceed in this instance, as in others, by the vote of the majority. The majority of them have decided to do so. It is understood that the French Government do not consider that in this case the vote of the majority is sufficient. None of the other Powers have yet formally expressed an opinion on the subject.

SIR W. HARCOURT: I beg to ask the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs whether he will state to the House the present situation of the demand made upon the Caisse of the Debt in Egypt for a grant from the Reserve Fund in aid of the military expedition on the Nile and the action taken by the several Powers represented upon the Caisse. I do not know whether the right hon. Gentleman is prepared to make any further statement than he has already made to the hon. Member for Northampton, but I rather gather that he has some additional information to give.

MR. WILLIAM ALLEN (Newcastleunder-Lyme): I beg to ask the Under whether it is the intention of the GovSecretary of State for Foreign Affairs. ernment to send a British expedition to Dongola in the autumn?

*MR. CURZON: Her Majesty's Government have no such intention.

MR. J. H. DALZIEL (Kirkcaldy Burghs) asked whether it is intended to propose any Vote of public money in respect to the expedition to Dongola ?

*MR. CURZON: No, Sir, there is no present intention of proposing any such Vote.

SMALL-POX AT GLOUCESTER.

MR. RADCLIFFE COOKE (Hereford): I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board, whether he is aware that small-pox is increasing in Gloucester at the rate of 60 fresh cases a week, the mortality being especially great among children, and that in one school out of 40 children attacked no less than 26 died; whether he can say how many deaths were of unvaccinated and how many of vaccinated persons: and, what steps, if any, are being taken to check the ravages of the disease?

MR. CHAPLIN : The number of cases of small-pox notified to the Local Government Board during the four weeks ended March 21 was 414, 155 being in respect of the last-mentioned week. I have not received particulars as to the

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