§ SIR JOSEPH MCKENNA (Monaghan, S.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the contemplated new issue of Turkish Government Bonds, Her Majesty's Government is aware that there remain unpaid and unprovided for in any way a consider 192 able number and amount of the bonds constituting the Turkish Loan of 1862, £8,000,000 sterling, in the hands of private persons, subjects of Her Majesty, to whom the amounts, together with coupons for interest unpaid since the 1st January, 1876, admittedly remain due; and whether Her Majesty's Government will draw the attention of the Government of the Ottoman Porte to the subject, and afford an opportunity, before fresh Turkish Bonds are issued to the public, of substantiating the facts herein alleged, with a view to obtaining a satisfactory settlement of the admitted claims of subjects of Her Majesty?
*THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. J. W. LOWTHER,) Cumberland, PenrithHer Majesty's Government are not acquainted with the particulars of the proposal for the new issue of Turkish Bonds. They are not, therefore, in a position to judge how far the interests of the 1862 bondholders—as secured by the arrangement of 1881 between the Delegates of the foreign bondholders and the Turkish Government—are affected, if at all. They are not, therefore, at present in a position to make any representation to the Porte on the matter.