MR. J. WALTON (Yorks, W.R., Barnsley)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the regulations of inland steam navigation recently issued by the Chinese Government restrict the privilege to Treaty port provinces, and also prohibit steamers from towing native craft; and, if so, whether Her Majesty's Government will insist on the opening of internal navigation on all rivers in China, so that 382 it will be possible to take British merchandise in British ships not merely to the ports recognised by Treaty, but to every riverside town and station in the whole of the interior of China, in order to carry out in its entirety the original agreement as explained to the House?
MR. CURZONThe regulations as drawn up by the Chinese Government did contain the first, but did not contain the second restriction mentioned in the Question. Her Majesty's Government will insist upon the regulations being revised in a satisfactory sense.