§ MR. ADDISON (Ashton-under-Lyne)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he has received any report from our Consular or Diplomatic agents in Brussels as to the causes of the late disturbances in the mining districts of Belgium; whether he has received any information from the same source as to the system of royalties, rents, and subsidies upon which the Belgian coal mines are worked, and as to the powers and rules in force for regulating the hours of labour and the wages of the workpeople in the said mines; and, whether he has any objection to lay the said report or reports upon the Table of the House?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.)Her Majesty's Minister at Brussels has sent several Reports describing the recent disturbances in Belgium, and has, in these Reports, adverted to the condition, wages, and temper of the mining population. He has, however, already been instructed to prepare and transmit forthwith a comprehensive Report on the economic and social causes of the disturbances, and to deal in such Report as well with the points raised in the hon. Member's Question as with other points of importance which have been indicated to him. This Report will, when received, be at once presented to Parliament.