§ SIR CHARLES W. DILKEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government possess any trustworthy statistics showing the number of Greeks inhabiting those districts of Thrace and Macedonia which it has been proposed to merge in. the New Bulgaria; and, whether any information on this subject could be furnished to the House along with the necessary maps?
§ MR. BOURKESir, I have to state that Her Majesty's Government are not in possession of information which they consider sufficiently full or accurate to enable them to lay Papers on this subject before the House; but Mr. Layard has been instructed to make inquiries of the nature mentioned in the Question of the hon. Baronet, and when the result of his inquiries has been communicated to Her Majesty's Government, it shall be laid upon the Table. With respect to the last Question of the hon. Baronet, I have to state that it is impossible almost to judge from the Turkish accounts which we have received as to the number of Greeks in the Provinces of Thrace and Macedonia; because, in the Turkish Returns in the possession of the Foreign Office, the Greeks are not distinguished from the Bulgarians.