§ MR. MCDERMOTTI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the insecurity of travellers between Jeddah and Mecca, and the repeated acts of brigandage committed 383 on British subjects on the road, for which redress cannot be obtained; and, if so, what steps, if any, have been taken to protect Mohammedans who are British subjects journeying on the highways in Arabia?
MR. CURZONI have examined the recent Reports of Her Majesty's Consul at Jeddah, but, while he speaks of some acts of petty robbery near Mecca, and of apprehensions entertained in consequence of the enforced isolation of Jeddah, owing to the fear of plague, there is nothing in his Reports to indicate an abnormal state of insecurity or brigandage. On the contrary, he speaks of a rumoured attack upon an Indian caravan as having proved to be quite without foundation.