HC Deb 27 February 1890 vol 341 cc1341-2
MR. BRYCE (Aberdeen, S.)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give the House any recent information as to the position of affairs in Crete and the prospects of a restoration of tranquillity in that Island; and, in particular, whether the Turkish Government intends to make any modification in the recently issued Firman?

SIR J. FERGUSSON

The latest Reports from Her Majesty's officers in Crete, founded on personal observation in a lengthened tour, stats that the general state of the districts was quits quiet. "A stranger," one of them says, "would have been unaware that anything of an unusual nature had been going on." Inquiries made in every village showed an absence of complaints, except of a petty character. There would appear, therefore, to be in general a cessation of the acts of pillage and violence, before reported as having been committed by contending parties. On the other hand, there have been cases of policemen and detached troopers being shot; and inflammatory reports are disseminated in the towns, including some charges of atrocious conduct by the troops, which in some instances, which the British Consul and the British senior naval officer had an opportunity of investigating, proved to be entirely unfounded. Telegrams of the 20th and 27th of February state that certain refugees in Greece, though implicated in recent events, on returning to Crete have not been molested by the authorities, and the Turkish Consul General at the Piraeus has published a notice that all refugees, except 16 persons named, may freely return to Crete. The Government have no information of any intention on the part of the Porte to modify the late Firman; but the Vali of Crete has issued a Circular explaining its provisions, and the British Consul reports that if the views of the Vali are carried out, little cause of complaint would be left with regard to the Firman, bat that the people are stirred by the action of politicians. The general result at present is more hopeful.

MR. BRYCE

Is the information in the possession of the right hon. Gentleman based entirely upon Reports of the British Consul, or does he derive it from any other source?

SIR J. FERGUSSON

It is also based on the Reports of the senior medical officer, who has been through the country. Papers will shortly be laid before the House.

MR. BRYCE

How late will those Papers go?

SIR J. FERGUSSON

To a very late date indeed.