§ SIR ROPER LETHBRIDGE (Kensington, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been directed to a statement in the Times of 10th July, that an important concession for the salting and curing of pork at Nish has been granted to a British subject by the 1357 Servian Government; whether the Foreign Office has received any informa tion regarding this concession; and, whether Her Majesty's Consuls in the Danubian States have been instructed to report fully on such openings for British enterprise?
§ * SIR J. FERGUSSONAn exclusive concession for pork-curing has been granted to a British subject for 15 years, with certain requirements as to his erection of a factory and obligation to slaughter 60,000 hogs in the first year, 80,000 in the second, and 100,000 in the third, with many contingent privileges and immunities. Her Majesty's diplomatic and consular officers all over the world are instructed to report on enterprises which offer openings for British capital, and notices of such Reports are frequently published. These instructions were laid before Parliament in No. 16 Commercial, 1886.
§ MR. A. O'CONNORMay I ask. the right hon. Gentleman if it is to be clearly understood that the answer he has given is by no means an assurance or intimation of the opinion of the Government that this particular concern is a sound commercial investment?
§ * SIR J. FERGUSSONNo, Sir; I merely stated the effect of the Report made to the Foreign Office.