MR. GIBSON BOWLESI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have taken any, and if so, what steps to inquire into the charges made over a year ago against officials in connection with the Consular Court at Constantinople; whether a special judge has been appointed to go out to Constantinople to try certain matters arising in that Court in place of the ordinary judge; and it so, when he was so appointed; and, whether he has yet arrived at Constantinople, or when he will arrive?
MR. CURZONThe charges referred to in the question are involved in certain actions now pending in the Supreme Consular Court at Constantinople. As the judge of the Supreme Consular Court is himself a defendant in one of those actions, and as his judicial proceedings 502 may be indirectly involved in the other, it was considered advisable to appoint a special judge to proceed to Constantinople to adjudicate on those matters. For this purpose it was necessary to pass a special Order in Council, under the provisions of which Sir Richard Rennie, late the Chief Justice of Her Majesty's Supreme Court for China and Japan, has been appointed. He has not yet arrived at Constantinople, as the actions in question are not ready for hearing, but he will proceed thither as soon as his services are required.