§ SIR G. CAMPBELL (Kirkcaldy, &c.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if steps are now being taken to continue for a further period the International Tribunals in Egypt; whether these tribunals have hitherto had authority, in every case in which a European wishes to sue a native, to cite that native from the most distant parts of the country to appear before these expensive tribunals at Cairo and Alexandria, and defend the suit there; and whether, in view of the recent arrangement for European supervision and control of the Egyptian Courts, Her Majesty's Government will now decline to continue to the International Courts an oppressive jurisdiction over natives which was always refused to Her Majesty's Supreme Courts in India?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir J. FERGUSSON, Manchester, N.E.)(1) No. The existing period does not expire till February 1, 1894. (2) Besides the Courts at Cairo and Alexandretta there is at Mansourah a "Délégation Judiciaire Permanente." The tribunals at those three places are the only Courts in Egypt for trying civil cases between natives and foreigners. (3) The native Courts could not try such cases without the consent of Foreign Powers, and if the system of the Mixed Tribunals came to an end Consular Jurisdiction under the Capitulations would revive.
§ SIR G. CAMPBELLWould the Consular Jurisdiction extend to the natives of the country?
§ Sir J. FERGUSSONI apprehend that it would in certain cases.