§ DR. CAMERON (Glasgow, College)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether it is true that, on February 16th, after a few hours' notice, the Portuguese bombarded Minengani, the British quarter on the Bay of Tungi, in Zanzibar, and that, after the bombardment, a party of Portuguese sailors landed, and burnt and destroyed all the private property which British subjects had been obliged to leave behind;whether a protest and application for redress has been lodged by the sufferers with the British Consul at Zanzibar;whether anything has resulted from the representations which the British Foreign Office addressed to the Portuguese Government on the subject of the rupture between Portugal and Zanzibar;and, whether, if the report as to the bombardment of Minengani be correct, any steps have been taken effectively to protect British subjects and interests?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)Some British-Indian subjects have arrived at Zanzibar from Minengani, and have informed the Acting Consul General that their property has been destroyed by the Portuguese;but no further particulars have yet been reported. Her Majesty's ship Reindeer left for Tungi Bay on the 13th, with instructions to ascertain and report what had taken place. The Portuguese Government have assented, on the representations of England and Germany, to stop hostilities, restore to the Sultan the captured vessel, and enter upon negotia- 359 tions with His Highness with regard to the territory in dispute. Her Majesty's Government will take such steps on behalf of British subjects and interests as may be required when the facts of the case have been properly ascertained. In the meantime, Her Majesty's Acting Consul General at Zanzibar has been affording relief to the se British subjects who have been rendered necessitous by the events at Tungi Bay.