§ SIR J. FERGUSSON (Manchester, N.E.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs the following question, of which I have given him private notice: Whether it is true, as stated by the Pekin correspondent of the Times in this morning's issue, that the British Government appears to have acquiesced in the notification to the Consuls at Chifu and Tien-tsin that no Englishman or other foreigner would be permitted to and at Talienwan or in the Leao-tong peninsula without having a passport riséd by the Russian Consul?
MR. CURZONNo, Sir; the statement in question is entirely without foundation. On the contrary, we are informed by the Russian Government that the circular in question respecting the risé of passports by the Russian Consuls was issued without the knowledge or the Imperial Government, and that the Russian Chargé d' Affaires at Pekin has been told to instruct the Consuls to withdraw it.