HC Deb 04 August 1881 vol 264 cc845-7
THE EARL OF BECTIVE

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government are aware that the Bey of Tunis, under the instigation of M. Rous- tan, has issued a decree removing the Enfida case from the Hanafi local court to the Meliki local court, although, early in the present year, he declared he had no power to control the action of those courts; if Her Majesty's Government are aware that the Meliki court formerly declared itself incompetent to entertain the suit, and that the French Government, prior to the 12th May, declined the jurisdiction of the local Tunisian courts for the Enfida case; whether Her Majesty's Government consider these acts of M. Roustan and the Bey are an infringement of the Anglo-Tunisian Treaty of 1863, and contrary to the tenor of Lord Granville's Letter of the 21st April, and therefore violations of the rights of a British subject; and, if Her Majesty's Government can inform the House, whether or not the acts aforesaid are approved by the French Government, and if they are prepared to take any steps in the matter?

SIR CHARLES W. DILKE

Sir, the Enfida case has been removed by a decree of the Bey from the Hanafi to the Meliki Court, and Mr. Levey having protested against this measure, further proceedings have been suspended. As regards the second part of the Question, Her Majesty's Government have been given to understand that the Maliki Court had formerly declared itself incompetent to entertain this suit; and it appears from Lord Lyons' despatch of the 16th of February—which has been laid before the House—that the French Government had declared— That it was impossible, under the circumstances, that the French Government could consent to leave the Enfida question to the decision of the Tunisian local authorities. Her Majesty's Government are awaiting a further Report as to the facts of the case, and, in the meanwhile, they are not in a position to form an opinion as to whether the proceedings that have taken place constitute a violation of the Anglo-Tunisian Treaty of 1863, or of Mr. Levey's rights as a British subject. Her Majesty's Government have directed Mr. Arpa, the Judge of the Consular Court at Tunis, who was absent on leave, to return to his post, and furnish a Report on the legal bearings of the case. Recent communications have passed between Her Majesty's Govern- ment and the French Government on the subject with a view to a satisfactory solution.