§ MR. DRAGE (Derby)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Russian Government has acquired an exclusive concession for the making of railways in Eastern Persia, together with the right of protecting such railways with Russian troops when they are made; whether surveys have been completed by Russian officers for a railway from Askabad on the Transcaspian Railway via Birjand and Kirman to Beuder Abbas on the Persian Gulf, with a branch from Birjand to Nasirabad in Seistan; and, whether Her Majesty's Government have made any representation on the subject in the interests of British trade, and in view of the agreement as to the independence and integrity of Persia at present existing between the British and Russian Governments?
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. ST. JOHN BRODRICK,) Surrey, GuildfordWe are not aware that the Russian Government has acquired such a concession as that mentioned in the first paragraph of the Question, nor have we heard of the completion of railway surveys by Russian officers, as described in the second paragraph.