§ MR. MONKasked the First Lord of the Treasury, If he will state to the House the grounds upon which Her Majesty's Government have given their permission to an office, of the British Government to act, at the request of the Ottoman Government, as arbiter in matters in dispute between that Government and a railway contractor; and, whether the statement made in this House last 89 year by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in reference to the employment of Captain Tyler by the Erie Railway Company, that—
If the application had been made to the President of the Board of Trade for an officer to inquire and report, it would he impossible that the application could have been entertained,is not opposed to the present employment of Captain Tyler?
§ MR. DISRAELISir, I do not think there is any similarity between the case which was treated by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer last year and the one to which the Question of the hon. Member refers. Last year it was the case of an officer of the Board of Trade, who it was contemplated should be employed in assisting the labours and forwarding the interests of a private company; and, for my own part, I could not too strongly reprobate the employment of those who are in the service of Her Majesty for the interest of private companies. The case to which the hon. Gentleman now refers is of a totally different character. The Ottoman Government has appointed a Commission to examine generally into the efficiency and sufficiency of the railroads which they have recently established. They have, I believe, appointed two eminent English engineers as members of the Commission, and they made a formal application to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs for permission on the part of the Government to Captain Tyler to join the Commission. Lord Derby applied to the Board of Trade in reference to the matter, and expressed his opinion that if it were not a great deviation from Departmental arrangement and etiquette he should be glad if the Board could accede to the application of the Ottoman Government. It would be, as Lord Derby pointed out, not only an act of great courtesy to the Government, but it was believed that it would assist them in one of the most important matters they had in hand—namely, the sufficiency of their railroads. It was, therefore, considered to be in a certain sense a diplomatic appointment, as well as an appointment of the kind to which the hon. Gentleman refers, and which he associates with that which occupied the notice of Parliament last year. It was, of course, a matter of discretion on the part of the Government, and especially of the President of 90 the Board of Trade, and I think that in complying with the suggestion of Lord Derby he acted discreetly. I believe, further, that the course which has been taken will be beneficial to the country and to an ally in whose prosperity we take an interest.