§ MR. SUMMERS (Huddersfield)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the Report of M. Prompt, Administrateurdes Chemins de Fer Egyptiens, submitted to the Egyptian Government on 27th February, 1890, in which he states that, if a railway were made from Khartoum to the Red Sea, and were maintained in working order, the effect would be to stimulate the 1587 Soudanese to increased cultivation, and thereby to materially diminish the supply of water available in Egypt; whether he is aware that in 1889, during the month of July, only from 15,000,000 to 17,000,000 cubic metres of water reached the Delta daily, although 25,000,000 metres are required for existing areas; whether this year the cultivation of rice has been suspended in favour of cotton; and whether he will cause to be printed and circulated to Members copies of any maps, diagrams, or documents bearing upon this subject illustrating the proposed area which it is proposed by M. Prompt to develop and Colonise as the result of the scheme recommended by him, and of any papers or maps relating to the Raiyan-Moeris storage reservoir and escape canal projected by Mr. Cope Whitehouse?
*THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir J. FERGUS-IRON, Manchester, N.E.)Her Majesty's Government are in possession of M. Prompt's scheme, but have not been informed of the estimates referred to in the second and third paragraphs of the question; and they do not deem it proper to submit to Parliament projects which it rests within the discretion of the Government of Egypt to adopt, if they see fit to do so.