§ MR. J. DILLON (Mayo, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that interference with the exportation of arms from Birmingham to the Persian Gulf has seriously affected several of the gunmakers in that city; and, if so, on what ground has the trade been interfered with?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. G. N. CURZON,) Lancashire, SouthportLast year the Sultan of Muscat represented to the Indian Government the trouble occasioned to him by the increasing importation of arms into Muscat, and in the same year the Persian Government mentioned to Her Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Teheran, the great danger arising from the arming of the tribes in the South of Persia, notwithstanding the prohibition of the trade. Her Majesty's Government, after making inquiry into the manner in which this trade was being conducted, determined to assist the Persian Government in putting a stop to this illicit traffic in arms, which affects territories and tribes under British as well as under Persian influence, and which has already proved to be injurious to British interests. The bulk of the arms so imported, though they have been carried in British vessels, are of foreign and not British manufacture.
§ MR. DILLONIs there any reason to believe any of the arms reached the Frontier tribes with whom British troops have been in conflict?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRSSuch, I believe, is the opinion of the officers on the spot who are conducting the investigation, but I have not yet seen the evidence on which that opinion is based.