§ LORD ERNEST BRUCEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, "Whether he is aware that the onerous duties of Consul at Bayonne are performed at present by an unpaid Vice-Consul, who is only allowed £100 a year for office rent and £20 a year for incidental expenses, all consular fees being paid to Her Majesty's Government, the duties as well as the responsibilities of Consul being now very much increased by the present state of affairs in the north of Spain; and, whether he will take the matter into his early consideration?
§ MR. BOURKE, in reply, said, that the duties of the British Consul at Bayonne had received the careful consideration of Her Majesty's Government, and in the year 1873 an officer was sent from the Foreign Office to Bayonne to report upon those duties. In consequence of his Report the port was reduced to the rank of a Vice Consulate, and the salary fixed at £100 a-year. Her Majesty's Government did not believe that the duties of the Vice Consul of Bayonne were of an onerous character, because there were only 50 British ships per annum visiting that port. There were no British firms there, and the correspondence was extremely light. Her Majesty's Government did not concur with the noble Lord in thinking that the duties of the Consular Agent there were at all increased by the present state of affairs in the North of Spain, for they had pursued, and did not intend to depart from, a policy of non-intervention. Under these circumstances, it was not the intention of Her Majesty's Government to interfere with the present salary or duties of the Vice Consul at Bayonne.