§ MR. PULESTON (Devonport)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether in view of the public interest in the mission of Mr. Stanley, the Government will cause inquiries to be made, so far as possible, of the present position of the Expedition, and particularly as to the reports now made of the death of the gallant explorer?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)There are no means of communicating with Mr. Stanley's Expedition. Reports are sent by Mr. Stanley to the Committee by whom the Expedition was despatched. The report of Mr. Stanley's death is disbelieved by the Committee and by the authorities of the Congo Free State, and Her Majesty's Government see no reason to believe it. I may say that before coming to the House, I received a copy of a letter from the Minister of the Congo Free State at Brussels to Her Majesty's Minister there, giving reasons for entirely disbelieving the report. As I think that letter, or the substance of it, has already appeared in the newspapers, I need not trouble the House with it.