§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs when the arbitration award on the Delagoa Bay Railway is likely to be promulgated; and, if not yet made, what is the cause of the delay; and whether the dispute was submitted to the three jurists at Berne, Switzerland, in August, 1891?
§ * SIR E. GREYIt is impossible to say when the award will be given. The Rules of Procedure were not finally fixed till February, 1892, and the British case was communicated to the Portuguese Government by the Tribunal of Arbitration in April, 1892. Several extensions of time have since been granted for the delivery of the counter case, the rejoinder and the reply, at the request of each of the parties respectively, and this has been the cause of the delay hitherto. The term fixed for the delivery of the Portuguese reply is now the 27th of next July.