§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTasked the First Lord of the Treasury, Whether the Dual Control was abolished by the Khedive under the advice of the British Government; whether any substitute for the Control has been agreed to by the British Government and the Government of Egypt; and, whether he can state what steps Her Majesty's Government intend to take in order to secure the predominance of British influence in Egypt and over the Suez Canal?
MR. GLADSTONEThe Dual Control has not, at the moment at which I am speaking, been abolished; but the Egyptian Government has expressed its desire that it should be abolished. That desire was not expressed under the advice of the British Government, but was a spontaneous expression. That answers, I think, the two first parts of the Question.
§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTWere Her Majesty's Government consulted?
MR. GLADSTONEConsulted! The expression of the desire was consulting in itself. With regard to the last part of the Question, I cannot make any addition at the present time to what has been already stated; but when Her Majesty's Government are prepared with the arrangements they will make them known to Parliament.