§ MR. TWELLSasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If his attention has been directed to the alarming reports circulated of the existence of plague in Bagdad, and to state what reports concerning the disease and mortality Her Majesty's Government has received from Her Majesty's Consul General at Bagdad, and the present sanitary condition of that city and the neighbourhood; and, further, to inquire if the stringent quarantine restrictions imposed by the Turkish and Egyptian authorities against ships arriving in the Red Sea from the Persian Gulf have been strictly in accordance with duly notified regulations, and if British shipping and shipping of all other nations have alike been impartially subjected to them?
§ MR. BOURKE, in reply, said, that the attention of the Government had some time ago been called to the subject of the hon. Gentleman's Question, and that reports had been received from Her Majesty's Consul at Bagdad with respect to it. The first disease which broke out did not appear to have been the plague, but some other form of epidemic; a report, however, had been lately received which stated that it had turned into that very dreadful disease. The last Report on the subject was received yesterday, and it was dated at Bagdad the day before. According to that, it appeared that the disease might be said to be to a great extent worn out. It was to this effect—"No deaths in Bagdad from plague during last three days. Health generally good." The number of deaths in February, and in March, he might add, was 259, in April 1,717, in May 1,550, while in June they were only 143, making a total of 3,669. According to Dr. Colville, the resident doctor at Bagdad, he said it was the real plague, and that it had been brought into the city from the low country lying between the Tigris and Euphrates, but he did not consider quarantine to be necessary in the case of passengers, although it might be with regard to the sending of wool. As to the restrictions on shipping, complaints had been made by the British Consul at Jeddo to the Turkish and Egyptian authorities, that British, ship- 428 ping was subjected to vexatious quarantine regulations which were not imposed on the vessels of other nations, and a correspondence on the point had for some time been going on with the Turkish Government. He need hardly assure his hon. Friend that the Government would use every exertion to obtain for British shipping the favourable treatment to which it was entitled.