§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether any demand has been made on Her Majesty's Government by the Government of Spain with respect to the anchorage ground at Gibraltar; whether Her Majesty's Government have proposed that the questions involved should be submitted to the decision of a Commission similar to that which adjudicated on the "Alabama" claims; whether such proposal has been accepted or rejected by the Spanish Government; whether the Spanish Government are intending to build forts at San Felipe which will command the Gibraltar anchorage; and, whether Her Majesty's Government will present to Parliament Papers on these subjects, including any Correspondence that may have taken place at former times in respect thereto, and the Papers recently laid before the Spanish Cortes?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICENo demand has been made by the Government of Spain with respect to the anchorage ground at Gibraltar, nor have Her Majesty's Government made any proposal of the kind suggested by my hon. Friend. Her Majesty's Government have no definite information as to 545 the intention of the Spanish Government to build a fort at San Felipe; but they are fully aware of the importance of the subject. The Correspondence referred to by my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth dates from the year 1825; and, as at present advised, Her Majesty's Government do not consider that they would be justified in incurring the expense which their publication would entail.
§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFasked whether any Correspondence had been laid before the Spanish Cortes; and, if so, whether Her Majesty's Government had been consulted on the subject before it was so laid?
§ SIR H. DRUMMOND WOLFFsaid, he would ask the Question to-morrow.