§ MR. THOROLD ROGERS (Southwark, Bermondsey)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether the intervention of Her Majesty's Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has been sought by the Chairman of the Peruvian Bondholders' Committee, with the object of inducing Her Majesty's Government, in concert with other Powers, to constrain the Chilian Government into acknowledging the claim of Messrs. Dreyfus and Co. of Paris, though that claim has been repudiated by the Chilian and Peruvian Governments; whether he has received communications from the Chilian Legation, or other Powers; and, whether he has any objection, in case he has received such communications, to lay them before Parliament?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.)The Committee of Peruvian Bondholders 901 have communicated to the Foreign Office a copy of an Agreement between the bondholders and Messrs. Dreyfus & Co. for the settlement of certain questions of priority; and they have solicited the support of Her Majesty's Government in favour of an arrangement therein proposed for the liquidation of the claims of the associated creditors of Peru, who claim rights over the guano and nitrate deposits of Tarapaca; but no application has been made to Her Majesty's Government to take steps, in concert with other Powers, to constrain the Chilian Government into acknowledging the claim of Messrs. Dreyfus & Co. The Chilian Legation in this country is for the time vacant; but the Chilian Minister in Paris and the French Government have addressed communications to Her Majesty's Government. All these documents have received the careful attention of Her Majesty's Government; but they are not prepared at present to express an opinion upon them, especially as the Chilian Government dispute the accuracy of the estimates and calculations on which the Agreement of the 23rd of March is based, and on which the proposals therein contained for a settlement are founded. The Correspondence has not yet reached a point at which it could conveniently be presented to Parliament.
§ MR. T. H. BOLTON (St. Pancras, N.)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Her Majesty's Government has made representations to the Chilian Government, in the interest of the English creditors of Peru; whether the Chilian Government has, in reply to such representations, intimated its willingness to effect an equitable settlement with the creditors of Peru, but has required, as a preliminary to any such settlement, that those creditors should agree amongst themselves as to the priority or otherwise of their claims; and, whether Her Majesty's Government has been informed that such an agreement has been practically arrived at?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.)I may refer the hon. Member, for a reply to the first part of his Question, to the answer given by my Predecessor on the 4th of August last. The reply to the representation then made, and which was dated August 20, 1885, corresponds generally with the terms of the second 902 paragraph of the hon. Member's Question. Statements have been made to Her Majesty's Government to the effect mentioned in the third paragraph of the Question; but I am not in a position to express an opinion as to their correctness.
§ MR. NORRIS (Tower Hamlets, Limehouse)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether, to the knowledge of Her Majesty's Government, the subjects of France and Italy have advanced claims against the Chilian Government in respect to the province of Tarapaca, the settlement of which claims the Governments of those countries have undertaken; and, whether Her Majesty's Government, as representing British interests having similar rights, has not been invited by the French Government to act in concert with them in pressing the settlement of the claims of all the Peruvian creditors on the Chilian Government?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Mr. BRYCE) (Aberdeen, S.)It is true that subjects of France and Italy have advanced claims against the Chilian Government in respect of the Province of Tarapaca; but I am not aware that the French and Italian Governments have undertaken the settlement of these claims. Her Majesty's Government have been invited by the French Government to act in concert with them in pressing the settlement of the claims of Peruvian creditors on the Chilian Government; but, as I have stated in my answer to the Question of the hon. Member for Bermondsey (Mr. Thorold Rogers), they are not prepared at present to express an opinion, or to take action in the matter.