§ MR. BOURKEasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the Government will instruct our Diplomatic Agent at Constantinople to press upon the Ambassadors the desirability of settling, without delay, the question of, the contribution to the Public Debt of Turkey which is due 1500 by Bulgaria, Montenegro, Servia, and Greece?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICESir, Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires, under instructions from the Secretary of State, again brought this matter before the Representatives of the Powers at Constantinople on June 29 last, and he has applied to the Porte for data on which the amount of the tribute from Bulgaria can be determined. Her Majesty's Government have done everything in their power to obtain a settlement of these outstanding questions, and they will lose no favourable opportunity of pressing for their consideration by the other Powers.
§ MR. BOURKEsaid, the answer was, so far, satisfactory; but he would ask, further, whether Her Majesty's Representative at Constantinople would be instructed to lay a definite scheme before the Turkish Government, which he believed was now in possession of Her Majesty's Government?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEThat will depend upon the character of the information obtained from the Porte in reply to this request. The words of the Treaty are "equitable basis," and information is required in order to define that.