BRITISH FACTORY AT ST. PETERSBURG. —QUESTION.

HC Deb 27 July 1868 vol 193 cc1824-5

MR. CLAY

said, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the British Factory at St. Petersburg is a body officially recognized by the British Ambassador?

LORD STANLEY

said, in reply, that the British factory was only a voluntary association of British merchants, nearly all of whom were, he believed, members of the Russia Company to which he had alluded on a former occasion. As such a voluntary association it was undoubtedly recognized. He was not aware that it enjoyed any peculiar rights or privileges. Any sums of money raised and administered by the society were, he believed, raised by the enterprize of the members of the factory themselves.