§ MR. LABOUCHEREasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, when Her Majesty's Government undertook to defend the Egyptian Ports on the Bed Sea, they had taken into consideration that Tajurrah is an Egyptian Port on the Bed Sea, but that France claims jurisdiction in regard to it; whether he can say if this pledge is to be regarded as an assurance that Her Majesty's Government will defend these Ports against all attack, or only against attacks on the part of the inhabitants of these Ports and of the surrounding country; and, whether the pledge is a temporary or a permanent one?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICETajurrah is outside the Bed Sea, in the Gulf of Aden; but it is one of the Egyptian ports of which Her Majesty's Government have undertaken the protection for the present. They are aware that a claim is made by the French Government to Obokh; but it would not be advisable at present to make any further statement. Her Majesty's Government is not aware of the probability of any attack on the Bed Sea ports, except by inhabitants of the surrounding country.