§ MR. M'COANasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, in view of the continued insubordination in the Egyptian Army, and of its now wholly unnecessary numerical strength, Her Majesty's Government has considered the expediency of advising the Khedive to disband that force and replace it by a simple gendarmerie, sufficient for all the mere police wants of the Country?
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKE, in reply, said, that Her Majesty's Government believed the Khedive and his Advisers were fully alive to the importance of the maintenance of discipline, and the advisability of not burdening the Egyptian finances by keeping up any larger force than was required for the preservation of order in than county.
§ MR. M'COANsaid, he had got nothing that amounted to an answer. The question was urgent, and he would repeat it on another day—perhaps tomorrow.
§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEsaid, that as the hon. Member pressed the Question, he was obliged to make a reply which he had not made since his holding 1920 the Office he at present held—namely, that the gravity of the circumstances which lay behind one part of the Question forbade his making any further answer than he had done.