§ SIR J. CLARKE JERVOISEsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he has any explanation to give on a late order of the Turkish Government, whereby sailing vessels passing through the Bosphorus from ports affected with cholera are exposed to a great aggravation of the difficulties of navigation between the Black Sea and Mediterranean; and whether (in the absence of the Report of the Cholera Congress, 1866) that of the British Cholera Commissioners will be forthwith distributed?
LORD STANLEYI suppose, Sir, the order referred to by the hon. Member's Question is one by which it has become necessary for sailing vessels passing through the Bosphorus to be towed by a steamship, whether they come with a clean or a foul bill of health. I do not think the House would thank me for going into details upon that question. But I may say that the Board of Health at Constantinople has proposed to dispense with this obligation in certain cases. And Her Majesty's Government, together with the Governments of some other Powers, have remonstrated against the indiscriminate enforcement of a rule which appears to us needlessly severe, and in favour of the more mitigated and moderate view taken by the Board of Health. However, the matter is still under discussion at Constantinople, and no result has yet been arrived at. In reply to the 1812 second part of the Question, I have to state that there is no collective Report of the Cholera Congress, but the Report of the British Cholera Commissioners will shortly appear with other Papers relating to the same subject.