§ MR. DARBY GRIFFITHsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is the fact that five days' quarantine have been imposed at Suez upon Officers and Men of the British Army returning from Abyssinia; and, if so, whether he will endeavour to obtain the removal of an impediment to the immediate transmission of the Men to a more invigorating climate, which may otherwise operate in so injurious a manner upon the sick and wounded of the British Troops?
LORD STANLEYsaid, in reply, that in April last the Egyptian Board of Health imposed five days' quarantine upon all vessels arriving at Suez from ports in the Red Sea; that quarantine to continue during the usual period of the return of pilgrims from Mecca. That arrangement would undoubtedly, if carried into effect, have imposed considerable hardship on British officers and men returning from Abyssinia. In consequence, however, of the representations of the British Consul to the Egyptian Government, permission had been obtained that they should be forwarded from Suez in trains provided for the purpose without any delay.