§ MR. BARTLEY(for MR. J. M. MACLEAN) (Oldham)asked the Under Secretary of State for Foreign 1506 Affairs, Whether the statement made in the Indian newspapers is correct, that more than 1,000 of Her Majesty's British Indian subjects, engaged in trade on the East African mainland within the limits of the new German Protectorate, have had their business ruined, and been driven from their homes, and forced to take refuge in the Island of Zanzibar, through the disturbances caused by the misconduct of the German Company's agents; and, whether the Foreign Office intends to claim compensation for their losses from the German Company, and, failing the Company, from the German Government?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE (Sir JAMES FERGUSSON) (Manchester, N.E.)Many British Indians, the precise number of whom is not known, have taken refuge at Zanzibar in consequence of the hostile attitude of the Natives, who have risen against the authority of the Sultan, and in fear of the reprisals which might follow. Those persons are, no doubt, deserving of the utmost sympathy; but the circumstances of the case do not appear to Her Majesty's Government, in point of International Law, to warrant diplomatic action in the sense indicated in the latter part of my hon. Friend's Question.