§ MR. DILLON (Mayo, E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he has now received information whether the British Commandant at Candia has allowed the Turkish regular troops to advance and occupy positions hitherto outside the cordon, including the height of Juktuki, which directly dominates the village of Kuri Kasteli; whether the Bashi-Bazouks are allowed to pass freely through the Turkish lines; whether recently they out down the olives belonging to a Christian village near the British post at Anopolis; whether the servant of an English traveller was recently seized by the Turks in Candia, and thrown into a loathsome dungeon; and whether Colonel Chermside, on being appealed to, refused to interfere, saying that he was there to co-operate with the Turks?
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. G. N. CURZON,) Lancashire, SouthportThe latest information that we have received leaves a different impression from that which is conveyed by the allegations in the Question. On 6th May Sir Herbert Chermside wrote that at the request and with the consent of both parties British troops had occupied three advanced positions, 7, 10, and 12 miles beyond the cordon. The Christians had at once entered into constant communication, and were working unarmed in the neighbourhood of the posts to which also unarmed Moslems proceeded with confidence. As regards the native irregulars or Bashi-Bazouks, Djevad Pasha had given orders for their withdrawal from the cordon into the town; and the senior British naval officer has informed us that he proposed to ask Djevad Pasha to go round to Candia to see that his orders were carried into effect. I have received no information or complaint concerning the incident mentioned in the fourth Question; and, without being aware of the context, I can offer no opinion as to the alleged statement by Sir Herbert Chermside in the fifth.