§ SIR GEORGE BADEN-POWELL (Liverpool, Kirkdale)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, Whether Messrs. Scicluna and Taylor, British subjects residing in Malta, have for some time been endeavouring to obtain from the French Government compensation for injuries to their property in Gabes, consequent on the operations of the French Military and Naval Forces; whether a French Commission awarded damages for similar injuries at Sfax for 7,0001., which was paid by the French Government; whether a French Commission assessed the damages for injuries at Gabes for 1,120f., but the case was ordered to be re-opened; whether the French Government now allege that the compensation awarded by the French Commission at Sfax was in excess of the damage done, and that the plaintiffs should be content not to press similar claims for similar injuries inflicted at Gabes; and, whether, as the question in dispute is not one of principle but of amount of damages, Her Majesty's Government will invite the French Government now to proceed to a final settlement by arbitration or other suitable means?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)The general facts of the case, as known to Her Majesty's Government, are in accordance with the Question of my hon. Friend, although the figures stated by him are not, as I believe, correct. Her Majesty's Government are not of opinion that the case is one which they could further press with propriety. I shall be happy to communicate its history to my hon. Friend; but it is too long to state on the present occasion.