§ CAPTAIN PIRIE (Aberdeen, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether it is the case that the British Admiral in Cretan waters has asked for the dispatch to Crete of an 285 additional battalion of 600 men; and if it is intended to comply with the request, whether he will urge upon the Government to send an English battalion and not another Schottish one? The HON. MEMBER added: May I also ask whether it was owing to an exaggerated feeling of modesty that the right hon. Gentleman could not give the House any information? [Cheers.]
§ * MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! Questions put merely for the purpose of satire are not in order.
§ * THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. G. CURZON,) Lancashire, SouthportYes, Sir. The British Admiral asked for more troops on the ground that the number already supplied was insufficient for the garrison of Candia, where there is gathered together a very large population. His request has been agreed to, and the requisite number of troops will be drawn from the Seaforth Highlanders and the Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Malta.
§ MR. REGINALD MCKENNA (Monmouth, N.)Will the right hon. Gentleman say why a Welsh regiment should be selected for this work? [Cheers.]
§ * MR. CURZONCan the hon. Member tell me any reason why a Welsh regiment should not be selected? [Loud Ministerial cheers.] I imagine that Welshmen are as willing to do their duty as any other subjects of the Queen. [Renewed cheers.]
§ MR. MCKENNABecause the work they are asked to do is wholly repugnant to the feelings of the Welsh people. [Ministerial laughter and Opposition cheers.]
§ MR. MACNEILLI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Cretan Insurgent Chiefs, who were summoned under a flag of truce to the village outside Retimo by the Consuls, were fired at three times when acting in obedience to the summons by the Turkish troops; whether, notwithstanding the urgent remonstrance of the Russian Consul to one Hushni Pasha, the Governor, who told the Turkish soldiers to stop firing, the Turkish soldiers continued to fire; whether the object of the proposed conference was the explanation by the Consul to the Cretan Chiefs of the meaning of the promised autonomy; and whether the Concert of Europe still maintain that the presence 286 of Turkish troops in Crete are essential to preserve law and order?
§ MR. JAMES BRYCE (Aberdeen, S.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give the House any information regarding two statements contained in The Times of 31st March, from its correspondents at Canea and Athens respectively, viz., that on Monday last eight delegates from the Cretan insurgents, who were coming to Koube with a flag of truce to confer with the Russian Consul at his request, were attacked by the Turkish troops in the entrenchments, with the consequence that fighting took place, and the conference could not be held; that on Monday last the officers of the Foreign fleets at Retimo, who failed to convey the proclamation of autonomy to the insurgents in consequence of an attack made upon the latter by Turkish troops and Bashi-Bazouks, again endeavoured to carry out their mission, but, owing to the threatening attitude of the Bashi-Bazouks, were compelled to return to the town; and whether, having regard to these incidents (if correctly stated), and to other similar incidents, Her Majesty's Government will endeavour to have steps taken to accelerate the complete removal of the Turkish troops from Crete?
§ * MR. CURZONHer Majesty's Consul reported on the 29th that the Russian Consul, who was engaged at Rethymo in preparing for the installation of the Russian troops, invited the insurgents to meet him and the Commander of the Russian troops. Fifty Christians came from the village of Azipopoulo, and sent a deputation of eight to the appointed place twenty minutes from the town; and although carrying a white flag, they were fired upon by Turkish troops from their entrenchments. [Opposition cheers.] The Christians abstained from firing—[Opposition cheers]—but as the Turks continued, 200 insurgents came down, and fighting continued till evening; the losses were not yet known. The Russian Consul is said to have made strong remonstrances to the Governor, stating that he would report his want of good faith. He subsequently succeeded in interviewing the insurgents at Azipopoulo, and they are reported to have refused autonomy and insisted on union with Greece. [Opposition cheers.] As I have 287 previously informed the House, the Government are taking every step in their power to accelerate the withdrawal of the Turkish troops—[general cheering]—though it must be clear that until the Powers are in a position to replace the garrisons withdrawn, which they are endeavouring by the dispatch of additional reinforcements to do, they are not justified in exposing to the risk of successful attack the refugee population in the seaport towns. [Ministerial cheers.]
§ MR. JOHN DILLON (Mayo, E.)Arising out of that question, I should like to ask the Under Secretary why the foreign the troops did not exercise the same punitive powers and the same amount of force to prevent the Turkish troops from acting in the scandalous way the right hon. Gentleman has just described as they exercised against the insurgents. ["Hear, hear!"]
§ * MR. SPEAKEROrder, order! That does not arise out of this Question.
§ MR. MACNEILLI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether there has been a fierce fight at Spinalonga; and did the insurgents, having taken a fort on the mainland, swim out to a small island near the fort and sink a Turkish sailing boat filled with arms?
§ * MR. CURZONWe have received no information to that effect.
§ MR. MACNEILLWill the right hon. Gentleman ask for information?
§ * MR. CURZONNo, Sir. I am not going to bother our officials about that. [Ministerial cheers.] They have enough to do without being plagued by incessant telegrams. [Ministerial cheers.]
MR. JAMES LOWTHER (Kent, Thanet)On behalf of the hon. Member for Sheffield, Ecclesall (Sir ELLIS ASH-MEAD-BARTLETT), I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to a statement by Baron Pinter, and quoted in the Standard of 31st March, that the worst atrocities have been committed by the Cretan insurgents upon the Turks of both sexes and all ages, and that the dead bodies of Mussulmans, fearfully mutilated, are to be seen lying everywhere in the interior of Crete; and whether Her Majesty's Government will insist upon the appointment of an International Commission, with efficient interpreters, to examine into and report 288 upon the expropriation and massacre of the Mussulmans of Crete.
§ MR. CURZONWe have heard nothing of the statement quoted in the Standard. Pending the restoration of order in the island, I am afraid it would be premature to discuss the appointment of any such Commission as the hon. Member suggests.
§ MR. HEDDERWICKI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs in what respect the object of the Government to restore peace to Crete is served by permitting the importation by the Turks of ammunition into that island?
§ * MR. CURZONThe Turkish troops still form a considerable portion of the garrison of the towns, and so long as this is the case it is necessary that they should be able to defend the posts held by them against attack. Otherwise the Mussulman population, which is congregated in large numbers in the towns, and which the contingents of the Great Powers have hitherto been insufficient to protect, would be in imminent danger.
§ MR. JOHN MORLEY (Montrose Burghs)I beg to ask the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs a question of which I have given him private notice—whether his attention has been drawn to the report in the Standard newspaper from Canea, dated yesterday, that Her Majesty's ship Camperdown, having shelled the forces of the insurgents at a distance of about four miles, the insurgent flag having been lowered, and the Christians being in full retreat, the Turkish soldiers sallied out of the fort, and established themselves in the insurgents' position, hoisting the Ottoman flag; that about 11.30 the Turks were still engaged in pouring in a rolling fire on the retreating mass of the insurgents; that the latter replied with great spirit, and that until the Camperdown took to her heavy shells they rather gained ground than lost it, in spite of a tremendous fire from the Russian and Austrian vessels; and I will ask him whether it is in accordance with the policy of Her Majesty's Government that Turkish troops should be employed under cover of British guns in order to hoist the Ottoman flag as a symbol of Turkish rule in Crete? [Opposition cheers.]
§ * MR. CURZONWe have as yet received no information about the incidents in question. But I do not gather from the 289 Report to which the right hon. Gentleman refers, and which I have read, either that Turkish troops were employed under cover of British guns fur an attack on the Cretan insurgents—on the contrary, they appear to have been engaged in repelling an attack—nor that the Ottoman flag was hoisted as the symbol of Turkish rule in Crete. I imagine that wherever the Turkish troops fight they fight tinder the Turkish flag, and that this is a common place of all military proceedings. [Ministerial laughter.]
§ * SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucester, Forest of Dean)asked, with reference to the statement of the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs that further forces are being sent to Crete, as he understood, by the Powers, whether Germany was taking part in that action?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURY (Mr. A. J. BALFOUR, Manchester, E.)I should prefer notice of that Question.