§ CAPTAIN GRICE-HUTCHINSON (Aston Manor)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any other Governments than that of this coun- 946 try have agreed with the Persian Government to prohibit the importation of arms into Persia viâ the Persian Gulf; and, if so, would he state which?
MR. CURZONAs my honourable Friend will see, the prohibition of the import of arms into Persia can only be the act of the Persian Government. In the case of the other Governments possessing territories on or in the neighbourhood of the Persian Gulf—namely, the Government of India, and the Turkish Government, a similar prohibition exists, whilst it is also being enforced in their own territories by the Sultan of Muscat and the Sheikh of Bahrein. If, however, my honourable Friend desires, by his Question, to ask whether the prohibition enacted by the Persian Government is being equally enforced against arms of other than British origin, I may inform him that special inquiries have been made on the subject, and we learn by telegraph that the prohibition is universal, and that the import of foreign, no less than of British arms, has ceased.