HC Deb 24 February 1885 vol 294 c1170
MR. CROPPER

asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, If he has seen the following report in The Times;— Hong Kong, Feb. 2. At Taiwan there are only three French vessels blockading the south-west of Formosa. The French are, however, destroying hundreds of fishing and trading craft along the coast, the crews being killed, or taken to Kelung and treated barbarously: Much indignation is expressed at Hong Kong being allowed to be used as a base for such operations; and, if he will inform the House if the Foreign Enlistment Act is yet fairly put in force at our Stations in China?

LORD EDMOND FITZMAURICE

I beg to refer the hon. Member to Earl Granville's full and explicit statement in the House of Lords yesterday, in answer to Lord Denman's Question, and to state that the Foreign Enlistment Act is being enforced in Her Majesty's Colonies in the East.