§ MR. SCHWANN (Manchester, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to a statement in The Standard newspaper, dated Constantinople, Monday 3rd April, to the effect that British merchants there loudly complain of the action of the Turkish Government in preventing steamers from unloading at their coal wharves in the harbour, and at the same time in refusing to allow merchants to transfer their coal depôts to other convenient spots on the sea front, outside the sphere of the opera- 9 tions of the Quay Company, thereby causing the merchants to land their coal in lighters, a proceeding which entails great additional expense; and whether Her Majesty's Government has taken any action in the matter, with the view of prevailing on the Turkish Authorities to allow merchants to transfer their stocks of coals to places outside the property of the Quay Company, and generally to procure reasonable facilities for the carrying on of the coal trade by British merchants in Constantinople?
§ *SIR E. GREYI understand that the construction of new quays which is proceeding makes it impossible for steamers to unload at the coal wharves in the harbour, but this is the first we have heard of a refusal to allow merchants to transfer their coal depôts to other convenient places on the sea front. A Report will be called for at once.