§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the French have established a post at Keng Kong, on the western and Siamese side of the Mekong, within 20 miles of the British frontier; and whether this act is a breach of the Franco-Siamese Treaty, 173 and also of the Agreements between France and England, signed in 1893?
§ SIR EDWARD GREYThe attention of Her Majesty's Government has been called to a notice which appeared in the Temps newspaper of the 23rd inst., stating that a fortified post was about to be established on the left bank of the Mekong at Chieng Khong, a Lastian village situated some distance above Luang Prabang. The information in the possession of Her Majesty Government confirms the statement in the French newspaper that the new post is on the left or eastern bank of the Mekong.
§ MR. T. GIBSON BOWLESHave the Government got any information as to any French operations in Siamese territory on the right bank of the Mekong?
§ SIR EDWARD GREYWe have not heard of any French post on the right bank?