§ MR. PIERPOINT (Warrington)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have sanctioned the application of a part of the surplus held by the Caisse of the Dette Publique of the Egyptian Government for the construction of a reservoir for the storage of the flood waters of the Nile; whether any other of the guaranteeing Powers have signified their assent to this application, and what was the amount which it was estimated might be required; whether Her Majesty's Government have received copies of the proceedings and Reports of the Technical Commission appointed by the Egyptian Government to consider the question of storage reservoirs; and whether, if they have been received, Her Majesty's Government would publish them or a summary of their contents?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir E. GREY,) Northumberland, BerwickHer Majesty's Government consented at the end of last year to the application of the economies effected by the conversion of the Preference and Daira Sanieh Loans to the object referred to. The French Government declined to give their consent until they were made acquainted with the amount of the expenditure required. Her Majesty's Government are not aware whether other 1472 Governments have yet been consulted. The Egyptian Government were not in a position to furnish the information required, as the Technical Commission appointed to examine the various schemes had not then reported. Their Report has not yet been made public, but it is before the Egyptian Government, and a copy is in the possession of Her Majesty's Government. The estimated cost of a reservoir at Assouan, and the works in connection with it, is, according to that Report, between £5,000,000 and £6,000,000. Her Majesty's Government must wait for the publication of the Report by the Egyptian Government before making it public here.