§ MR. MELLYsaid, he wished to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign I Affairs, Whether it is the intention of Her Majesty's Government further to recognize the great services rendered to the Abyssinian Expedition by Mr. Werner Munzinger, C.B., late Vice Consul at Massowah, who is now without any employment, that Consulate having been abolished?
MR. OTWAYBefore I reply, Sir, to the Question of my hon. Friend, in which I observe He has made a very judicious alteration, I desire to correct a misapprehension which the Question is calculated to create, if it does not already exist. Mr. Munzinger was not appointed British Vice Consul at Massowah, but he acted as such during Consul Cameron's absence; and so far 1143 as our information goes he is now French Vice Consul at Massowah, and not, therefore, as the hon. Member supposes, without employment, While Mr. Munzinger was acting as our Vice Consul at Massowah he received a salary of 300 rupees a month, and I learn by an extract from a letter of Lord Napier of Magdala that—
at the recommendation of Sir William Merewether, Mr. Munzinger was engaged by the Bombay Government for the expedition to Abyssinia at a salary of 300 rupees per month, in addition to his Consular allowance, so that his total salary was 000 rupees per month.Her Majesty's Government are fully sensible of the valuable service rendered by Mr. Munzinger during the Abyssinian expedition. These services were fully and officially acknowledged by Lord Stanley and by my noble Friend the Secretary of State (the Earl of Clarendon), who instructed Colonel Stanton to inform Mr. Munzinger that he would hare been appointed to the Vice Consulate at Massowah if it had not been considered desirable in the public interests to suppress that post. This occurred in December, 1868, but Mr. Munzinger was allowed to draw his salary until June, 1869. In further recognition of Mr. Munzinger's services Her Majesty has been graciously pleased to confer on him the Companionship of the Order of the Bath.