§ MR. MOON (St. Pancras, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the post of British Consul at Cagliari has 1369 been recently filled by the appointment of an Italian subject, and whether, amongst the applicants for the post, there was an Englishman who had been for some years an officer in one of Her Majesty's regiments, has a considerable knowledge of Cagliari and of the Island of Sardinia, and was otherwise well qualified.
§ MR. BRODRICKThe Consulate at Cagliari, an unsalaried appointment, was recently conferred upon Mr. R. H. Pernis, on the recommendation of Her Majesty's Ambassador at Rome; and on the receipt of a memorial in his favour signed by British residents and representatives of British firms in Sardinia, Mr. Pernis was appointed Vice-Consul in 1892, and was reported as well qualified for the post of Consul. An application (no doubt from the gentleman alluded to in the question), not for the Consulate, but for the post of Vice-Consul, had reached the Foreign Office through the Board of Trade, to whom it was addressed. The Vice-Consulate was not at the time vacant, and the applicant was so informed. He subsequently wrote to say that he had applied for the Vice-Consulate by inadvertence, and that he was a candidate for the Consulship. The latter had, however, in the meantime already been conferred on Mr. Pernis.