§ MR. R. A. YERBURGH (Chester)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury whether he can state the amount expended by the Government in the years 1895, 1896, and 1897 upon the encouragement of the study of Oriental languages; whether he is aware that Russia maintains at the cost of the central government a constant succession of pupils intended for the civil, naval, and military services, who receive regular instruction under competent masters in the living languages of the East; that the German Government has established a College of Oriental languages in Berlin; that Austria has established an Oriental College at Vienna; and that France has in Paris an Ecole pour les langues orientales vivantes; and whether, in view of the fact that the British Empire includes some 300,000,000 of Eastern subjects, the Government will consider the desirability of establishing in the metropolis a fully endowed and adequately equipped Oriental College?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYI am informed that there will be considerable difficulty without detailed examination in stating the amount expended by the Government in any one year for the study of Oriental languages. Much is being spent in tuition at the Universities of Consular officers who are about to proceed to Morocco and the Levant, and the remainder on the tuition on the spot of Student interpreters who have already proceeded to China, Japan, and Siam. I believe that the facts are as stated by the hon. Gentleman in the second paragraph of the Question, but I have no reason to suppose that the present system does not satisfy the requirements of the public service.
§ MR. YERBURGHI beg to give notice that in consequence of the right hon. Gentleman's answer I will raise this Question on the Estimates.