§ MR. J. WILLIAMSON (Lancashire, Lancaster)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether he has any information to show that the Capitulations at all obstructively affect 997 the fiscal and police administration of Egypt; and, if so, whether Her Majesty's Government will consider the expediency of initiating negotiations for their abolition, as was successfully done by the French at Tunis immediately after their assumption of protectoral authority in the Regency?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)The subject of the hon. Member's Question is very large, and cannot be disposed of in a few words. He will find that it has been treated at considerable length in the Reports of Sir H. Drummond Wolff, which are about to be presented to Parliament; and that the means of remedying or mitigating the evils caused to Egypt by the abuse of the Capitulations forms part of the question which Sir H. Drummond Wolff is now discussing with the Porte.