§ MR. WOODALL (Hanley)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether a Report has been received, made by Major Western, R.E., to Sir C. C. Scott-Moncrieff, R.E., C.B., K.C.M.G., of the Egyptian Public Works Department, in which it is stated that a depression has been shown to exist in the Desert to the south-west of Cairo, which would probably contain 30,000 million cubic metres of Nile water, with a surface of about 400 square miles, and which, it is said, could be utilized to store Nile water, so as to ultimately redeem an area of 2,300,000 acres of land in Lower Egypt; whether this is the Lake Moeris scheme, with which the name of Mr. Cope Whitehouse has been connected; and, whether he will lay upon the Table of the House a Copy of the Report, together with a map, if any exists, and any observations made by any officers in Her Majesty's Service, tending to show the value of the project?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)The Report in question has not been received by Her Majesty's Government. It would naturally be made to the Government of Egypt, and considered by them. I believe that Mr. Cope Whitehouse has taken a deep and long-continued interest in the scheme of filling Lake Moeris or Wady Raian for the irrigation of Upper Egypt. We are not in possession of Reports on the subject from officers of Her Majesty's Service. I have seen the Report of Major Western, and a map of the locality, but, unofficially; and they could not be presented to Parliament until they have been considered by the Government of Egypt.