HC Deb 26 June 1882 vol 271 cc387-8
MR. ARTHUR ARNOLD

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he can make any statement as to the proceedings of the Conference; whether the powers and the sittings of the Conference will be continued until its decisions have been carried into execution; and, whether any steps have been taken to guard the preponderance of England and France, in accordance with such public declarations as those of the late Foreign Minister of Austria-Hungary and of the Italian Ambassador that "the Austrian and Italian Governments had no political interests in Egypt?"

SIR CHARLES W. DILKE

Sir, it is not in the power of Her Majesty's Government to make any statement at present as to the proceedings of the Conference or its duration. They must depend on the course of events and the views of the Powers. Her Majesty's Government have no reason to suppose that there is any occasion to take steps for the purpose suggested in the second part of the hon. Member's Question.