COLONEL HILL (Bristol, S.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, considering the grievance to which British ship-owners have been subjected, owing to the present mode of collecting the Hospital dues in the ports of Constantinople and Smyrna, attention to which was promised many weeks ago, he will now state the decision of Her Majesty's Government in respect thereto?
§ *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir J. FERGUSSON, Manchester, N.E.)The Treasury have agreed to a reduction of the Constantinople Hospital Dues from ½d. a ton to 1d. per three tons from the first convenient date. No proposal for reduction of the Smyrna Hospital Dues is before Her Majesty's Government.