§ MR. W. FIELD (Dublin, St. Patrick)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has been informed that a lawless chief fled with seven followers from Cairo to Balliana, about 380 miles up the Nile, and took refuge in a Copt's barn; that the Egyptian police and soldiers, under British orders and officers, besieged the fugitives, who refused to surrender alive, being provided with arms and ammunition; that the soldiers and police obtained petroleum and saturated the roof, and burned to the ground the barn, the chief, and his associates; and whether, if this was the fact, he will prevent such occurrences in future?
MR. CURZONA statement to the effect mentioned in the question has appeared in a French newspaper. Although the report is manifestly in the highest degree improbable, the extract has been sent to Lord Cromer for inquiry and report.