LORD BALCARRES: Have the results of the tests been communicated to the firms concerned? MR. HALDANE: I must have notice of that Question. were unlawful unless held under the Military Manoeuvres Act, 1897. The Commissioner is advised that this is a mistake and has renewed his proposal that he and a representative of the War Department should confer with the Verderers as soon as possible. Arrangements for manœuvres on a smaller scale have been made in this way year by year for many years past and have worked smoothly and satisfactorily. I am proposing to ask the Verderers to meet me shortly in order to discuss with them how best to settle questions of compensation and similar matters that may arise out of the manœuvres. Fife Territorial Field Artillery. MAJOR ANSTRUTHER-GRAY (St. Andrews Burghs): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War when the converted 15-pounder gun will be supplied to the Fife Territorial Field Artillery Battery. MR. HALDANE: One gun was issued early in March to the 1st Highland Brigade of which one battery is This gun was sent to Forfar. Up to the supplied by the 1st Fife Artillery. present it has only been possible to issue one gun per brigade, but further issues will be made as quickly as possible, and I hope that the Fife battery may receive a gun at an early date. MAJOR ANSTRUTHER-GRAY: Will it be before the training? MR. HALDANE: If not I have no doubt other arrangements will be made. We are pushing the matter on. MAJOR ANSTRUTHER-GRAY: But will they have the two guns before the training? MR. HALDANE: I hope so, but I do not want to give any undertaking. Residence for War Office Officials. MR. LONSDALE (Armagh, Mid.): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether it is in contemplation to provide official residences in the vicinity of the War, Office for the Secretary of State for War and the Chief of the General Staff. MR. HALDANE: I am not aware that any such buildings are contemplated. The suggestion is one which I personally greatly admire, but I rather think that there are yet more pressing demands on the purse of my right hon. friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer. Civil Servants and the Territorial Force Camps. SIR WILLIAM BULL (Hammersmith): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether it is proposed to give special facilities to Civil servants who are members of the Territorial Force to attend camp; whether a Civil servant who attends the annual training in camp, will, in addition to the number of days leave to which he is entitled as a Civil servant, be granted extra leave according to the number of days spent in camp, and, in the event of the Territorial Force being called up for six months consecutive training, what will be the position of Civil servants in relation to their civil duties; and, if there are any exceptions to be made, can he say in what Departments. THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR THE COLONIES (Mr. CHURCHILL, Manchester, N.W.): The reply to the first paragraph of the Question is in the affirmative; as to the second, Dinizulu has been charged with treason and other offences, and the Natal Government is proceeding against him in a manner which they are advised is in accordance with the law of the Colony. On the remainder of the hon. and learned Member's Question I can only say that the Secretary of State's opinion has already been expressed, and I am not in a position to add anything to any answers to similar Questions. SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend); Can the right hon. Gentleman say what is the opinion of the Secretary for the Colonies? THE FINANCIAL SECRETARY TO THE TREASURY (Mr. RUNCIMAN, Dewsbury): The Answer to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative. Special leave up to a maximum of fifteen days will be granted for the purpose of attending camp subject to the discretion of the in the Papers to be laid. head of the Department to which the Civil servant belongs, and to the require ments of the service. I do not think it necessary or desirable to lay down any rule with regard to the arrangements to be made in the event of the Territorial Force being called up for six months' consecutive training until that contingency arises, nor can I make any general statement as to any exceptions that may have to be made. I may add that the Treasury hopes in this matter to set a good example to other employers. Dinizulu's Position in Zululand. MR. MACKARNESS (Berkshire, Newbury): I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether Dinizulu is a British subject who was, in 1898, established as a Government induna in Zululand, under a guarantee from the Imperial Government that the position then assigned to him should not be withdrawn without the approval of the Secretary of State; whether this chief was, early in December last, arrested without any definite charge being made against him, and has since that date been imprisoned and examined in secret without being charged with any specific offence; and whether the Secretary of State has been made aware of any conduct on Dinizulu's part disentitling him to the fulfilment of the guarantee given by the Imperial Government, and, if not, what MR. CHURCHILL: It will be found Native Administration in Zululand. MR. MACKARNESS: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Native Affairs Commission in Natal, which reported in July last, came to the conclusion that the erroneous existing system of native administration MR. CHURCHILL: The statements cited by my hon. friend in the first part of his Question are certainly sustained by some passages of the Report of the Natal Native Affairs Commission. The Natal Ministers have informed us that they have given effect to certain administrative measures designed to carry out in part the recommendations of the Report, and that they contemplate legislation of similar character. We are not, however, yet apprised of the specific measures adopted or contemplated, and the Natal Parliament does not meet until the 8th Natal Administration. MR. MACKARNESS: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the total electorate in the Colony of Natal amounts to only 23,688 voters; whether the total number of votes given for all the four members of the present Natal Government was under 2,000; whether this Government has proclaimed, and for many months maintained, martial law in the Colony against the wishes of the Governor and the Imperial Government; whether a petition and declaration of rights has been signed by over 8,000 adult colonists, declaring that responsible government has been practically superseded by an oligarchy, that the incidence of taxation is grievously unjust, and that an absolute confusion has arisen in the relations between the white and black population; whether an amendment of the constitution has been asked for; and, if so, what steps the Secretary of State proposes to take. judgment on the petition of Tilonko for special leave to appeal from a judgment of a court martial at Pietermaritzburg. It is there pointed out that martial law does not exist by virtue of a proclamation, but that if there is war there is a right to repel force by force. The Ministers who are responsible for the government of Natal, and who must justify their action before the Natal Parliament, hold that martial law cannot be pro forma withdrawn until an Act of Indemnity has been obtained, but I am informed that it is, and has been for some time, practically in abeyance. MR. MACKARNESS: When will the Act of Indemnity be likely to pass? MR. CHURCHILL: The Natal Parliament does not meet until May, and it cannot therefore be passed until after that date. Then the Act will have to come over here for the sanction of the Secretary of State. AN HON. MEMBER: Will facilities be given for discussing this matter in the House before the assent of the Government is given to the Act of Indemnity? MR. CHURCHILL: A movement for a redistribution of seats in Natal has been proceeding for some time past, and I am aware of the statements with regard to the electoral conditions in this Colony referred to in the Question which have been made in the course of it. The MR. CHURCHILL: My hon. friend matter is a domestic one which must be must address that Question to the Chanleft to the people of the Colony. I cancellor of the Exchequer. not add anything to the statements which I have already made as to martial law. Martial Law in Natal. MR. MACKARNESS: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether it was recently decided by the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council that the only justification for proclaiming martial law in a Colony was the existence there of a condition either of actual war or of rebellion whether that decision is binding in the Colony of Natal; what evidence is in the possession of the Secretary of State to show that such a condition of things exists in that Colony; and, if there is no such evidence, what steps he proposes to take to restore to British subjects living under the Govern ment of that Colony the civil rights of which they have been deprived by the imposition of martial law. MR. CHURCHILL: My hon. and learned friend refers no doubt to the MR. SWIFT MACNEILL (Donegal, S.): Will the right hon. Gentleman remind his colleagues that the Governor of Natal has protested against the continuance of martial law? MR. SPEAKER: It is contrary to Lord Milner had predicted that 1,000 order to make a quotation at Question white men would be employed for every time. MR. WEDGWOOD (Newcastle-underLyme): Has the right hon. Gentleman taken steps to obtain for the House a Report of the Committee which recently sat in the Transvaal on white employment in the mines? MR. CHURCHILL: The Report is on its way to this country, and while one cannot say anything about a document in advance, I certainly think it very desirable that it should be brought to the notice of this House. I will ask the Secretary of State whether it can be published. Colonial Office Records. LORD BALCARRES: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies what is the nature of the documents removed from the Colonial Office for the destruction of which authority is now being sought by an additional rule under 40 and 41 Vic., c. 55, and 61 and 62 Vic., c. 12. MR. CHURCHILL. The documents referred to are those which are not of sufficient public value to justify their preservation in the Public Record Office. The object of the additional rule is to enable such documents to be transferred to Colonial Governments, if so desired in any case, instead of being destroyed under the provisions of the existing rules. Labour in the Transvaal Mines. MR. FELL (Great Yarmouth): I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies if, approximately, 1,000 white men are employed in the Transvaal mines for every 10,000 Chinese employed there, and 1,000 white men for every 15,000 Kaffirs employed. MR. CHURCHILL: The last official returns those from January — give 16,700 whites, 123,000 natives, and 33,800 Chinese. The proportions suggested in the Question, which would give 11.580 whites, do not therefore appear to be correct. I may add, however, that I was drawn unwittingly into an error, in reply to a Supplementary Question by the hon. Member for Graves and 10,000 Chinese. What Lord Milner really said was that he was prepared to stake his reputation on the prediction that for every 10,000 coloured labourers, 10,000 whites including women children would be added to the population within three years. This was 1904, and although between the dates of the arrival and the first departures of the Chinese there was an increase of 87,800 coloured labourers, the population of Johannesburg according to the latest returns has remained stationary. Dinizulu's Trial. *MR. HERBERT (Buckinghamshire, Wycombe): I beg to ask the UnderSecretary of State for the Colonies whether the meaning attached by His Majesty's Government to its acknowledged obligation to guarantee Dinizulu a fair trial is that such trial shall be in accordance with the elementary principles of justice; whether evidence collected in Zululand by the Natal Government, which is the prosecutor, is being adduced against Dinizulu, while at the same time the Natal Government precludes the advisers of Dinizulu from all possibility of testing this evidence by cross-examination by prohibiting them from collecting any evidence in Zululand; and whether His Majesty's Government, in dealing with this matter, has appreciated the fact that evidence which is false or inaccurate may be relevant and admissible. MR. CHURCHILL: Dinizulu is not yet committed for trial, but the Natal Government have promised to give the defence the usual opportunities of obtaining evidence before the trial comes on. The English law of evidence has been applied to Natal by statute, and it will be for the Supreme Court of the Colony which will try the case to weigh the value of the evidence produced. *MR. HERBERT: Would it not be open to the prosecution at the trial to refer witnesses to the depositions they have made at the preliminary examination, to caution them to be careful, and in effect to threaten them with prosecution for perjury if they do not swear up to the evidence in their depositions which it has been impossible to test by MR. CHURCHILL: I could not say without notice what actually will be the procedure in the Supreme Court in Natal, but I think it fair to assume that it will be fully in accordance with the principles and traditions of justice, and if injustices or improprieties have been committed at the earlier stages of the proceedings, these injustices or improprieties will be to the advantage of the prisoner. did a great deal to spoil the market for them, and to the further statements that the banana trade was the only branch of the fruit trade that was artificially propped up, and that other branches were able to hold their own without artificial aid; and whether he will at the earliest moment give notice that it is the inten tion of the Government not to renew this artificial aid to a Colonial industry at the expense of the British taxpayer, and to the injury of competing home industries. MR. FLYNN (Cork, N.): I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether, at the proceedings MR. CHURCHILL: The attention of before the Supreme Court of Natal on the Secretary of State has not been the 2nd instant, Mr. Renaud, counsel for called to the discussion to which the hon. Dinizulu, applied for an interdict restrain- Member refers; but I may observe that ing the magistrate from continuing the the subsidy paid under the contract of preliminary examination and alleged the 15th of April, 1900, is not paid grave irregularities, such as terrorising solely on account of the carriage of the witnesses and other scandalous bananas, but also secures a direct service conduct; and whether the Colonial of mail and passenger steamers and that Office authorities keep themselves fully informed as to the course of proceedings in the trial of this native chieftain. MR. CHURCHILL: The Secretary of State has as yet received no official information as to the proceedings mentioned. The Press telegram states that the Supreme Court has reserved judgment. The Governor is keeping the Secretary of State fully informed as to the course of the proceedings from time to time. MR. FLYNN : Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that there is an intense feeling in this House and in the country generally that Dinizulu should get a fair trial? MR. CHURCHILL: I am not only aware of it, but I share it very strongly myself. Jamaica Bananas. only one half is paid by the United Kingdom, the remaining half being paid by Jamaica. The contract has been laid before Parliament as Cd. Paper 175 of 1900. EARL WINTERTON (Sussex, Horsham) asked if it was not the case that the importation of these bananas furnished cheap and nutritious food for the people. MR. ALDEN (Middlesex, Tottenham) asked if it was not a fact that nearly all the Jamaica bananas came from South America. [No Answer was returned.] Persian Customs Service. MR. WEDGWOOD: I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any official information to the effect that the Persian Government either contemplate, or actually are, MR. HAROLD COX (Preston): I beg replacing the Belgians now in the Persian Customs service by Germans. to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the recent discussion upon the subsidy now paid for the introduction of Jamaica bananas at the annual meeting of the National Federation of Fruit and Potato Trades Associations, and to the statement made in the course of that discussion that, when there was a big erop of English strawberries or other home-grown fruit, the supply of bananas MR. RUNCIMAN: My right hon. friend has nothing to add to the Answer which he returned to the Question asked by the hon. Member on this subject on the 1st instant. MR. WEDGWOOD: Is the hon. Gentleman aware that the Answer on 1st March was to the effect that the German |