MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any information respecting the alleged forcible seizure by the Russian gunboat Zabiaka, and the Russian steamboat Kotik, in July and August last, of British sealing vessels on the high seas 250 in the Behring Sea, and the alleged captivity, robbery, and ill-treatment of their crews?
§ *SIR E. GREYInformation has reached Her Majesty's Government of the seizures referred to in the hon. Member's question, and of the treatment to which the crews of the vessels affirm that they have been subjected. Her Majesty's Ambassador at St. Petersburg was at once instructed to bring the matter to the notice of the Russian Government, and to ask for investigation and redress, if the complaints should prove to be well-founded. The Russian Government have promised that the cases shall be inquired into. They state that the proper authorities have been called upon for detailed information, but that some time must elapse before an answer can be received.