§ MR. A. O'CONNOR (Donegal, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs what will be the functions of the new Commercial Attaché in China, and whether he will be concerned with the business interests of individuals resident in the United Kingdom who are not represented by agents in China?
MR. CURZONThe instructions to our Commercial Attachés were printed in the Blue Book Commercial 1369 No.5 (1897). The scope of work in China, in particular, was indicated in Mr. Brennan's Report on China (Annual Series No. 1,909) of 1897. The Commercial Attaché there cannot, of course, be authorised to act as the local agent of firms or individuals; but he will render generally what assistance he can to British trade.