§ MR. BROOKFIELD (Sussex, Rye)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether, some few years ago, the President of the Swiss Republic was appointed to arbitrate as to the claims of the bondholders of the Delogoa Bay Railway Company upon the Portuguese Government; (2) whether the final replies to the Portuguese case were sent in before 15th November 1893, and the Portuguese answer before December 1894; and (3) when a final settlement of this question, affecting the interests of holders of £743,000, is likely to be announced?
MR CURZONThe answer to the first two questions is in the affirmative, but I find that the long delays that have taken place have been due in about equal proportions to the successive applications of both parties concerned. The expert who had been sent to South Africa to conduct certain inquiries on the spot having now returned, there is good reason to believe that the final awards will not be much longer delayed.