§ MR. ARTHUR ARNOLDasked, Whether the Under Secretary of State 69 for Foreign Affairs could now give the House any information as to the reported massacre of the Berber garrison?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEThe following telegram, has been received at the Foreign Office:—
On June 9 Mr. Egerton telegraphed that Major Kitchener telegraphed from Korosko a Berbereen report, unconfirmed to him from other sources, that Berber had fallen. On the 9th a messenger arrived at Suakin who had left Berber on the 3rd and had seen Hussein Pasha Khalifa. The messenger reported to Major Chermside that steamers were working below Berber and barges up to Khartoum; that the road west of the Nile was fairly safe; that provisions at Berber were cheap; and that there was no particular danger there. On June 10 Mr. Egerton telegraphed that Major Kitchener telegraphed that Berber was surprised and nearly the whole garrison massacred nine days ago. 'This news,' Mr. Egerton says, 'is difficult to believe, being sent by pass from Mahdi's Emir to Kalifa's sons, and news brought by Chermside's messengers being of later date.'
§ LORD RANDOLPH CHURCHILLasked if the noble Lord could state whether there was any truth in the reported attack on the outposts at Wady Halfa?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICENo information to that effect had reached the Foreign Office when I left.