§ MR. YERBURGH (Chester)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the undertaking given by China, in compliance with the demand of Her Majesty's Minister at Pekin, respecting the non-alienation of territory in the Tang-tsze Valley region imposes any, and, if so, what, obligations upon Great Britain?
MR. CURZONI do not quite understand what my honourable Friend means by this Question, for he has seen the text of the undertaking, and he is therefore familiar with its contents. The assurance was requested from, and was given by, the Chinese Government, and I have before stated in the House that Her Majesty's Government regard this as a definite and binding undertaking on the part of that Government.
§ SIR E. ASHMEAD - BARTLETTMay I ask whether there is any published geographical definition of the territory included in the Yang-tsze region?
MR. CURZONThe only published geographical definition is contained in the assurance itself, in which the words occur, "the provinces adjoining the Yang-tsze." That is a geographical definition.
§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTPerhaps the right honourable Gentleman, when he publishes the next Chinese Blue Book, will put in a coloured map, showing what he includes in that definition. I must say that it is almost impossible to ascertain it at present.