§ SIR CHARLES DILKE (Gloucestershire, Forest of Dean)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if Her Majesty's Government are aware that there exists at Port Arthur a naval dock (410 feet long by 72 feet wide) which is uninjured; and whether the forts by which the place was defended were, at the request of China, left virtually intact at the time of the evacuation by Japan?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. G. N. CURZON,) Lancashire, S.W., SouthportThe Naval dock at Port Arthur is believed to be undamaged and intact, except for some machinery which was removed by the Japanese. The forts have not been much damaged, but all the interior buildings, comprising magazines, accommodation for troops, etc., were destroyed, and all the guns, with their mountings, removed by the Japanese.
§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT (Sheffield, Ecclesall)May I suppose that that answer is to be taken as withdrawing the statement made in the answer of the right hon. Gentleman to me the other day, that there were no forts at Port Arthur?
§ MR. CURZONNo, Sir, there is no contradiction between the two.