HC Deb 28 March 1893 vol 10 cc1306-7
MR. FRANCIS STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)

I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether be can give any information with regard to recent disturbances in the Island of Symi?

THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir E. GREY,) Northumberland, Berwick

It has been reported to Her Majesty's Government that the Authorities at Symi carried off a convert to Christianity from a monastery, but there is some dispute as to whether the conversion was the cause of the seizure. The inhabitants forcibly rescued the man from the police, and some soldiers are said to have committed excesses in searching for him afterwards. An Armenian Christian official was sent from Rhodes in a Government steamer to investigate the affair, and some of the soldiers were removed, which produced a change for the better. Two Senators of Symi were, however, summoned to Rhodes and put into prison there.