§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTasked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, in view of the fact that Kassala is a flourishing commercial centre of over 20,000 inhabitants, among whom are several thousand 667 Egyptians, Her Majesty's Ministers intend to persist in withdrawing the only organised government and means of defence from the town and district; and, if so, what they propose to do for the future subsistence of the 6,000 or 8,000 people who will have to be removed to Lower Egypt?
§ LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICEThere is no alteration in the policy of Her Majesty's Government in regard to the Soudan. I am not aware that it will be necessary to provide for the subsistence of 8,000 people if the Egyptian Government withdraws from Kassala.
§ MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTCan the noble Lord state the ground on which he bases his conclusion that it will not be necessary for a large number of people to be removed from Lower Egypt?
§ [No reply was given.]