§ SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL (Kirkcaldy, &c.)asked the Under Secretary of State for India, Whether a khan and many coolies, working on an advanced part of the Quetta-Pisheen Railway, have been killed by the Duranis; whether the whole of that part of the line as now carried on or sanctioned is in British territory; whether there are any Papers available to Parliament showing by whom, and in what limits, the territory now forming the Pisheen District was ceded, and whether the consent of any tribes claiming rights there was obtained; if the works now carried on, or sanctioned, go beyond the British territory, into whose territory they run, whether that of independent tribes, or within the Suzerainty of the Ameer of Cabul; and, in the latter case, whether the consent of any local tribes claiming the territory has been obtained as well as that of the Suzerain; whether it is contemplated to lay the Railway beyond Chaman Chauki; and, whether opposition to that proceeding is expected as stated in Reuter's telegram?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JOHN GORST) (Chatham)The hon. Baronet will be gratified to learn that the report on which his first Question is based is wholly without foundation. No irruption of Duranis has taken place, nor has anybody been killed. The territory through which the Railway passes has since 1878 been in the occupation and under the absolute control of the Government of India. The Secretary of State is now in correspondence with the Government of India as to its exact legal status. The Papers relating to the Pisheen District are to be found in the Afghan Blue Books published between 1878 and 1881. The 546 works now sanctioned and being carried out do not extend beyond British territory; nor has the question of extending the Railway beyond Chaman Chauki yet been finally decided. The remaining Questions of the hon. Baronet are, therefore, premature.