§ MR. BRYCE (Aberdeen, S.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can now inform the House what has been the result of the representations addressed to the Turkish Government by Her Majesty's Ambassador at Constantinople on the subject of the deplorable failure of justice in the case of the so-called trial of Moussa Bey for murder and outrages committed by him?
§ *SIR JAMES FERGUSSONInquiry into the charges still pending against Moussa Bey is proceeding, but, as the preliminary proceedings are held with closed doors, no dragoman can attend, and Her Majesty's Ambassador is, therefore, without any official information as to the present state of the criminal proceedings. It is, however, rumoured that the charges against Moussa Bey are held not to have been established in the preliminary inquiry in every case except one.
§ MR. BRYCECan the right hon. Gentleman give us any indication of the time when something may probably be known to Her Majesty's Government?
§ *SIR JAMES FERGUSSONI think the hon. Gentleman will see from my reply that nothing is certainly known; how, therefore, can we form a conjecture as to the time the examination will occupy when we do not know accurately what is going on.