Widnes Examiner. — 1896-06-13 (Widnes, Cheshire, England)

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. THURSDAY.  In the House of Commons on Thursday Sir W. BARCOURT asked the Colonial Secretary what was at present the official position of Mr. Rhodes in the territory of the British South African Company ; whether he was empowered to control and reverse the action of Earl Grey as Administrator, whether he acted as managing director of the Company under a power of attorney which authorised him to do all acts and exercise all authority in like manner as if done by the Company, and whether the principal authority in the civil administration of the territory was at present legally vested in Mr. Rhodes. Mr. CHAMBERLAIN replied that Mr. Rhodes had for some years acted as managing director of the Company, and held a power of attorney substantially in the terms of the question. He (Mr. Chamberlain) was advised, however, that the Company could not delegate to a managing director or an attorney the power of reversing or controlling the action of the Administrator, and that consequently Mr. Rhodes had no power to control or reverse the action ot Earl Grey. The principal authority in the civil administration of the territory of the Chartered Company was not, therefore, regally vested in Mr. Rhodes. Mr. P. STANHOPE asked the Colonial Secretary whether in order to avoid further bloodshed, he would instruct Sir F. Carrington to enter into negotiations with the " rebels "now concentrated in the Matoppo mountains, in order, if possible, to effect a peaceful settlement before any further military operations in the nature of rept i4als were entered upon. Mr. CHAMBERLAIN said the information before him would not justify him in taking the course suggested. He would make it his care to see that considerations of humanity were not lost sight of so far as was consistent with the sup,ressiosi of the rebellion, the punishment )f the murderers, and the prevention of a recurrence of the present trouble. _ _ _  Sir H. VINCENT asked Mr. Balfour if he could SPO his way to translate the sympathy frequently expressed by him, on behalf of the Government, in favour of the Importation of Prison-made Goods Bill into action by enabling it to be brought forward. Mr. BALFOUR replied, tkat the prospects of public business had not improved since last he answered a question on this subject,and he could not now give a more favourable reply. On the order of the day relating to the Education Bill, the Speaker ruled out of order thirteen instructions to the committee standing in the names of different members. Oh the House going into committee on the bill, Mr. W. Allen moved to postpone clause 1 (which directs that "every county council shall appoint an education committee for the purpose of this Act "), and said thae if that was carried he should move to postpone tht second and third clauses, in order that the committee might at once get to the consideration of the special aid grant. Sir J. Gorst replied' that in the opinion of the Government the first clause was the most important in the bill. Mr. Dillon said the declaration of the Vice President would carry dismay throughout the country among the supporters of denominational schools. Mr. ASQUITH said the statement was,to say the least,unexpected. It was not possible.to discuss the composition of the new authority until they knew what its functions would be and bow the money it would control would be distributed. The motion was rejected,,after further dis cussion, by 262 votes to 121. The first three and a half pages of amendments were then declared out of order for various reasons by the Chairman (Mr.J.W.Lowther); and Mr. Luttrell moved that the controllipg educational authority should be the District and not the County Council. The amendment was rejected by 298 votes to 125. Sir A. Ronk proposed that the election of the education committees should be placed in the hands of the county and municipal boroughs After some discussion, Mr. A. J. BALFOUR said he had come to the conclusion that if the Committee would be content to fix a limit of 20,0 E population in the noncounty boroughs which should have educational authorities the Government would be prepared to risk the experiment. Mr. GODSON moved,. as an amendment to the original amendment, to add the words and not less than 20,000 inhabitants," and this was carried by 287 votes to 117. A division on Sir A. Rollit's amendment as amended resulted in its adoption by 332 votes to 83.