§ MR. F. S. STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)In the absence of the hon. Member for the Leigh Division of Lancashire, I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can state what steps are being taken, or will be taken, by the Government to relieve the dire distress at present existing in the neighbourhood of the town of Candia, where the British troops are stationed, by the distribution of food; by the suppression of raids and disorder at the outposts, so that the peasants 45 may be enabled to cultivate their land; and by the supply of sulphur for the vines without which this year's vintage must inevitably be lost?
MR. CURZONA proposal has been made for the institution of markets upon neutral ground, under the safeguard of the European troops in the neighbourhood of the cordon, so as to facilitate communication between the town of Candia and the interior. But the leaders of the Christian villages who have recently been visited by Her Majesty's Consul seem to be divided in opinion as to the advantage of the proposal, some of them representing that they already enjoy facilities for importing and exporting all that they need without payment of customs or tithe. Sulphur has been asked for by them, and may, it is to be hoped, be provided from charitable sources, the funds allocated by Her Majesty's Government being spent upon food supplies in the more necessitous cases. On a cordon 25 miles in length I am afraid that, in the present embittered feeling of the two sections of the population, raids will continue to occur. The European forces are not sufficiently numerous to prevent them.