HC Deb 08 August 1881 vol 264 c1195
MR. J. R. YORKE

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If Her Majesty's Government have received any communication from the Spanish Government as to the persistent refusal of the local authorities to carry out the repeated sentences of the Spanish Courts on the subject of the Zamora Waterworks; and, what steps Her Majesty's Government propose to take in face of this continued denial of justice?

SIR CHARLES W. DILKE

Sir, this matter has, from time to time, been urgently pressed upon the Spanish Government by Her Majesty's Representative at Madrid; and on the receipt in April last of a letter from the agents of the Company in England, from which it appeared that their client's claim was still unsettled, Mr. West was again instructed to press the Spanish Government to take immediate measures for its settlement. The result of this representation was that on the 13th of June last Mr. West received a Note from the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs stating that positive orders had been sent to the Civil Governor of Zamora to carry out the Royal order for compelling the Municipality to pay the sum due to the Company, and that unless this order were complied with the severest measures would be adopted against the Corporation.