§ MR. ARTHUR ARNOLDasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, consequent upon the recent opening of the Poti-Tiflis-Baku Railway, any new arrangement has been made as to Russian Customs Duties upon British cotton manufactures and other goods in transit for Persia and Central Asia?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICESir, according to the last Reports from St. Petersburg, it would appear that there is an intention on the part of the Russian Government—although no Ordinance on the subject has been as yet published—to impose a duty of from 30 to 50 per cent on the import duties now in force in Russia upon merchandize arriving at Batoum or Poti in transit for Persia, that this merchandize should not be allowed to be transported by railway further from Tiflis, and should be deprived of the use of the railway now ready from Tiflis to Baku, being obliged 764 to go by road to the Persian Frontier, and thence to Tabreez. Reports on the subject will be found in Parliamentary Paper No. 15, 1883, Part III., and other Papers will be laid on the Table.