HC Deb 31 March 1881 vol 260 cc362-3
DR. CAMERON

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether his attention has been called to the disastrous hurricane which raged in Reunion on the 21st January last; whether he is aware that the Indian Coolies (British subjects) resident in the island have in consequence been subjected to great sufferings; and, whether he can inform the House whether Her Majesty's Consul in Réunion has taken any steps to alleviate the distress of the Coolies?

SIR CHARLES W. DILKE

Sir, the attention of Her Majesty's Government was called by the gentleman in charge of the Consulate, during the absence from ill-health of the Consuls, to the great damage caused by the hurricane in Réunion on the 21st of January last; but as no mention has since been made of the special sufferings of the coolie population, it is hoped that their privations were only temporary.