§ SIR ELLIS ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can confirm1 the statement made by the Times correspondent at Pekin that there are already considerable numbers of Russian troops in Manchuria; and whether the Russian Railway Company has received large grants of land, and is authorised to maintain on these lands, and along the line, a force of Russian armed police?
MR. CURZONI cannot confirm the statement in question. I will lay upon the Table the conditions under which the Russo-Chinese trans-Manchurian Railway is being constructed, which include certain provisions for the necessary lands, and for the policeing of the line.