§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL (&c.) Kirkcaldy,asked the Under Secretary 89 of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government have received, or expect soon to receive, any Report from Sir Henry Drummond Wolff on the state of Egypt; whether they propose soon to lay upon the Table that and other Papers throwing light on the internal Administration of Egypt, and especially showing the fate of the self-governing institutions recommended by Lord Dufferin, and decreed by the Khedive; showing whether there has been any real progress towards a Native Administration that can stand by itself, and a Native Army that can protect the Country, and also showing whether the Country is contented, peaceful, and fairly free from violent crime, or whether brigandage and violent crime are common; whether the administration of justice is satisfactory, and the state of the gaols creditable, or the justice is scandalously bad, and the gaols full of persons arbitrarily detained without trial, as represented by Mr. Justice West; what are the irrigation works in progress; whether any relief has been given to the cultivators of Upper Egypt, always over-taxed, and now affected by the fall in prices; whether the revenue survey is more effective, or is still as bad as represented by Lord Dufferin; whether the Crown domains are as mismanaged as has been represented; whether forced labour has been abolished, or is still actively enforced; and, whether, in regard to Mokabileh and Pension claims, and other financial questions, the Natives have had the same measure of justice as Europeans?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen) S.)Her Majesty's Government are receiving from Sir H. Drummond Wolff Reports on the various branches of the Egyptian Question, and it is probable that these Reports will be in due course laid upon the Table of the House; but, pending the continuance of Sir H. Drummond Wolff's Mission, it is not possible to find a date for their publication. With regard to the seven other Questions which my hon. Friend puts to me, he must, of course, be aware that I could not reply to them in a manner which would give to the House any information not already in its possession without far exceeding the limits which it allows to the answer to a Question. He will find ample materials for informing 90 himself on the topics to which he calls attention in the Papers already laid, and hereafter to be laid, before Parliament.
§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELLsaid, he wished to explain. His hon. Friend had misunderstood his Question. He did not ask for information on the points set out in it, but whether any Papers would be laid on the Table in regard to them all.
§ MR. HANBURY (Preston)asked whether Mr. Justice West's Report had been received.
§ MR. BRYCEsaid, the Report had been received, and was now under consideration. As to the observation of his hon. Friend, he could only say that his answer was suggested by the series of seven Questions put to him. Information on these points would doubtless be found in the Papers about to be presented, but he could not say when.