§ SIR ELLIS ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to a statement made by the correspondent of the China Gazette at Shanghai to the effect that the correspondent himself had recently seen large numbers of Russian troops in Manchuria, and especially 3,000 Russian soldiers at Kirin, the capital; whether similar statements have been made by the other English travellers in Manchuria; and whether, in view of these facts, Her Majesty's Government will ask their Minister at Pekin to obtain definite information as to the numbers and position of the Russian troops in Manchuria, the object of their presence in that province, and the period of its duration?
MR. CURZONI have not myself seen any statement on the subject, except that by a recent correspondent of the Times. But inquiry has been addressed to Her Majesty's Minister at Pekin.