§ MR. SUMMERSI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the statements of Her Majesty's Agent and Consul General in Egypt as to the necessity for increasing the supply of water during the period of low Nile, and the feasibility of Mr. Cope Whitehouse's plan for forming a storage reservoir to be drawn upon as the water in the river decreases; whether Her Majesty's Government are in possession of any maps, papers, or Reports, describing the project of Mr. Cope Whitehouse; and whether he will 1430 cause copies of these maps and Reports, or such portions of them as may be necessary to explain the scheme, to be laid upon the Table of the House?
§ SIR J. FERGUSSONAs I stated last year, the question of the water-supply in Egypt is one which concerns the Egyptian Government, and must be decided by them. Her Majesty's Government have received various Reports from Mr. Cope White house, but they do not consider that they would be justified in incurring the expense of laying them before Parliament.