§ MR. GOURLEY (for Sir EDWARD WATKIN)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, considering the appearance of epidemic cholera in Egypt, in the vicinity of the Suez Canal, Her Majesty's Government are taking steps to bring about an International Convention as to quarantine, with a view not merely to checking the progress of the disease, but also to minimising inconvenience and loss to the shipping interest and to travellers; and, whether Her Majesty's Government have considered the scheme for International agreement as to quarantine formulated in 1879, by Sir Sherston Baker, barrister-at-law, and published in that year by the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEMy hon. Friend the Member for Sunderland (Mr. Gourley) has a similar Question for Thursday, and I propose to reply to his Question now, as well as to that of my hon. Friend. Her Majesty's Government have no present intention of taking steps to bring about an International Convention or Congress as to quarantine, nor have they received any 181 proposals to that effect. Her Majesty's Government are acquainted with the proceedings of the Association for the Reform and Codification of the Law of Nations, and the views of the author referred to.