§ Mr. SAMUELSONasked Mr. Chancellor of the Exchequer, Whether the conversion of the Egyptian Debt, in the terms of the Decrees of the 2nd May, does not affect the security to this Country for the sum of about £200,000 per year payable in respect of interest on the Suez Canal shares; and, whether the consent of Her Majesty's Government, as a creditor of Egypt, was asked and obtained prior to the publication of those Decrees?
THE CHANCELLOR OFTHE EXCHEQUER, in reply, said, he did not see that the conversion of the Egyptian Debt in the terms of the Decrees of May 2 affected the security this country had for the £200,000 a-year. That sum was and had been included in all the arrangements, he believed, proposed in reference to the charges which were to be borne by the Egyptian Government. The consent of the British Government was not asked prior to the publication of the Decrees of the 2nd May; but those Decrees were issued solely in accordance with the caprice of the Egyptian Government.