§ SIR EDWARD GOURLEYI beg beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the island of Trinidad has been handed over to the Brazilian Government; if so, is this in 745 consequence of the island having been wrongly taken possession of by Great Britain, or because unfit for habitation, and also for the purposes of the Telegraph Company, to which the Government conceded the right of laying a cable en route for South America?
MR. CURZONHer Majesty's Government having accepted the good offices of the Portuguese Government, which were voluntarily tendered to them, and the latter having stated that in their opinion the island of Trinidad had been transferred to Brazil by Portugal in 1825, Her Majesty's Government have expressed their willingness to defer to this opinion, and have in consequence withdrawn their claim to the possession of the island.