Even the Army rate of pay which it is proposed to furnish is looked on by the Government not as reward but as bare indemnity against loss.

War Office Traffic on Hampshire Roads.

MR. WILLIAM NICHOLSON (Hampshire, Petersfield): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that the present claim of the Petersfield Rural District Council for damage to the district roads by the War Office traffic incurred through the construction of Borden and Longmoor camps amounts to £6,870 5s. 3d.; whether, seeing that the claim of the Alton Rural District Council was paid by the War Office in January last, and that the Hampshire County Council have also lately been paid £2,000 on account of their claim, he will state why the amount due to the Petersfield Rural District Council has not been paid, or any payment made on account thereof; if he is aware that a 1d. rate in the Petersfield rural district only brings in £205 8s. 8d., and that a heavy rate will have to be levied for the current year unless the War Office should make an immediate payment; and if he can state why the ratepayers in the Petersfield rural district are called upon to find money in connection with the construction of barracks for the regular troops.

MR. HALDANE: The claims of the Petersfield Rural District Council mentioned refer to damage to roads in respect of which the War Department contractor is liable. It is possible that it may be found necessary to refer these claims, with those of several other councils, to arbitration, as allowed to the contractor under Clause 23a (iii) of contract, but every effort will be made to effect an early settlement of the matter. The claim of the council for War Department traffic, as distinguished from the con tractor's traffic, has been settled. The

Officers and the new Territorial
Regiments.

MR. WALROND (Devonshire, Tiverton): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether officers now serving in the auxiliary forces will join the proposed new territorial regiments without loss of seniority; what compensation will be provided for officers now joining the auxiliary forces and purchasing the uniforms of their regiments in the event of their units being disbanded; and whether, in any case, officers now serving will be allowed to retain and wear existing uniforms.

MR. HALDANE : Details of the character referred to in the Question have not yet been settled. The hon. Member may rest assured that every consideration will be shown to those officers now belonging to the auxiliary forces who become part of the territorial force.

Army Meat Supplies.

SIR HOWARD VINCENT (Sheffield, Central): I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War if he is aware that tenders, returnable on 25th March, 1907, for the supply of meat from Australia and New Zealand for His Majesty's Forces in Gibraltar, were invited by the War Office on 14th December, 1906; that nine weeks later various alterations were made in the conditions of contract, among which was the withdrawal of the stipulation that these stores were to be imported from Australia and New Zealand; and, if so, will he state the reasons for these alterations, and specify the countries from which the supply of meat for the use of His Majesty's Forces was to be permitted.

MR. HALDANE: The alteration in the conditions of contract for the supply of meat at Gibraltar were made to ensure the best quality of meat being obtained at the most economical price. no limitation as regards countries for the supply of meat to the forces; and as the

There is

forces are scattered all over the globe they have naturally to obtain their meat supply from the best as well as the most economical sources.

SIR HOWARD VINCENT: Was it not rather hard on Australia and New Zealand that the alteration should be made after the forms of tender and specifications had been sent out there?

MR. HALDANE: The alterations were general and were simply intended to throw the thing open.

SIR HOWARD VINCENT: I beg further to ask the Secretary of State for War if his attention has been called to the fact that tenders for the supply of preserved meat for delivery at Woolwich were invited by the War Office on the 26th of November, 1906, returnable at noon on the 30th of that month, that is, in ninety-six hours; and, further, that tender forms for a supply of preserved meat were issued on the 14th of February, 1907, for return on the 22nd idem, or eight days; and, if so, whether he will consider the possibility of giving longer notice of future War Office requirements, in order that British Colonies may have an opportunity of quoting for supplies.

MR. HALDANE: Both demands were urgent. The reason for the short notice

in the two cases was explained to the Agents General. Opportunity to tender. was given to Australasian firms having London agents, of which some of them availed themselves. Longer notice will be given whenever possible.

SIR HOWARD VINCENT: Could not

firms?

of State for War whether, in view of the fact that, as shown by the Estimates for 1906-7 and 1907-8, the Regular Army has been, or is about to be, reduced by 19,189 officers and men serving with the colours, viz., Cavalry 313, Royal Horse and Field Artillery 2,094, Royal Garrison Artillery 2,516, Royal Engineers 1,373, Infantry of Line 11,843, Foot Guards 838, Army Service Corps 212, these reductions, or any of them, are to be regarded as temporary or permanent; and, if the former, to what extent is it proposed to repair the shortage, and in which branches of the service.

the taxpayers of Jamaica to the inhabitants of the United Kingdom.

MR. CHURCHILL: The military garrison of Jamaica is not maintained. for the local defence of the inhabitants of that island, but as part of the general scheme for preserving the integrity of the British Empire, to the purposes of which scheme the Government of Jamaica contributes by maintaining a local artillery corps.

Communication with Jamaica-Railway

and Steamship Subsidies.

MR HAROLD COX: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies, what is the amount of the subsidy paid by the Exchequer of the United or any other steamship line for the Kingdom to the Elder Dempster Line

the West India Islands and Canada; and maintenance of a service of ships between whether the taxpayers of Canada or of Jamaica make any contribution to the cost of any railway or steamship commuthe United Kingdom. nication between different portions of

Jamaica Sugar Industry Subsidies.

MR. HAROLD COX: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any sums of money have been granted in recent years at the expense of the taxpayers of the United Kingdom to assist the sugar industry of Jamaica; what is the aggregate amount of such sums; and whether the taxpayers of Jamaica have at any time made any grant to assist any industry in the United Kingdom.

MR. CHURCHILL: In the year 1902 the sum of £10,000 was granted from the Imperial Exchequer to assist the sugar industry of Jamaica, pending the abolition of sugar bounties under the Brussels Convention. The Answer to the last part of the Question is in the negative.

say.

Canadian Preference for West Indian

Sugar.

MR. LONSDALE: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he has received information that the Canadian Government have decided to permit importations from British Colonies to Canada, via New York, to receive the benefits of the preferential tariff law; and whether he can estimate the value of this concession to the West Indian sugar trade.

MR. CHURCHILL: The Secretary of State has not received official information of the decision referred to, which is reported in a Press telegram. The Colonial Office is not at present possessed of means of estimating what is the value to the West Indian sugar trade of the reported concession.

Charges against the Witwatersrand

Native Labour Association. MR. LONSDALE: I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Secretary of State has received the protest of the Witwaters rand Native Labour Association against the charges made against the Association in the speech of the Under-Secretary of 17th December; and whether he will state the nature of the reply which has been or will be sent to the request of the Association to be informed whether the Under-Secretary, in making these charges, was relying upon information supplied to the Colonial Office by its own officials or by any department of the Transvaal Government.

MR. CHURCHILL: The protest in question has been received by the Secretary of State. No reply seems necessary, and none will be sent.

MR. LONSDALE: I beg further to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether Lord Selborne has informed the Witwatersrand Native Labour Association that none of his communications to the Secretary of State could have given rise to the impression that the Association has not been doing all in its power to recruit native labour for the mines; and whether he will state the sources of the information upon which

Association December.

in his speech of 17th

MR. CHURCHILL: The Answer to the first part of my hon. friend's Question is in the affirmative; and to the second in the negative.

German South West Africa.

MR. WEDGWOOD (Newcastle-underLyme): I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether his attention has been called to the statement of Herr Dernburg in the German Reichstag, with regard to the railways to be built in German South West Africa, that, in order to secure the increased value of the land, the districts adjoining the railway would be expropriated and be reserved by the Government, and that the taxation of land values would follow later; and whether any similar provisions are arranged for or contemplated in regard to railways on which British taxpayers' money is or may be advanced in the Gold Coast, Lagos, Northern Nigeria, and British East Africa.

MR. CHURCHILL: I have seen the statement of Herr Dernburg as reported in the Press. The railways in the Gold Coast and Lagos have been and will be constructed without the assistance of the British taxpayer. When the construction of the Uganda Railway was authorised it was arranged that a strip of land on each side of the line should be reserved to the Government, and when any further railway construction is undertaken in East Africa or Northern Nigeria, I hope that it may be found possible to adopt a similar system.

Mr. Bucknill's Report.

MR. MACKARNESS (Berkshire, Newbury): I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the Governor of the Transvaal will be instructed to place the Report of Mr. Bucknill and the evidence taken by him at the disposal of the members of the Colonial Government.

MR. CHURCHILL: Lord Selborne will, I presume, be ready to communicate the Report and evidence confidentially to Ministers, if Ministers ask for them, and it does not seem necessary to send special instructions on the subject.