§ MR. ANDERSONasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If Her Majesty's Government has yet determined to insist on the Portuguese Government either giving redress or consenting to arbitrate, in respect to the wrong done to British subjects by the Portuguese Courts in the City of Mecca collision case; or in what other way these British subjects are to have their wrongs redressed?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEHer Majesty's Government have not yet renewed their proposal for an arbitration in the case of the City of Mecca. The question is still under consideration, and I regret that I am not yet in a position to state the course which Her Majesty's Government propose to take in this matter, which is one of great difficulty. The Portuguese Government have already rejected our proposal for arbitration, and therefore a second had to be made. The manner of framing the arbitration is a matter of great difficulty and delicacy.
§ MR. ANDERSONIs the noble Lord aware that this matter has already been pending for four years, during which British subjects have been deliberately robbed by the Portuguese Government?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEI am painfully aware that this question has continued for a considerable time; but the House must not be under the impression that it has continued for four years, and that nothing has been done. There has been this proposal for arbitration, which itself followed attempts to settle the matter by the ordinary diplomatic course.