§ MR. YOXALL (Nottingham, W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for India whether the Governments of Bombay, Bengal, and Madras have represented to the Viceroy of India the serious outrages by brigands to which British Indian pilgrims are subjected when travelling between Jeddah, Mecca, and Medina in Turkish Arabia; whether the Viceroy has requested the Imperial Government to adopt energetic measures for securing protection for British travellers in Arabia; what steps have been taken by the India Office to remedy the grievances brought 226 to notice; and whether, having regard to the facts that 30,000 British and Egyptian pilgrims annually visit the Mahomedan shrines, and that 80 per cent. of the transport service is carried on by British shipping firms, Her Majesty's Government will consider the expediency of stationing a gunboat at Jeddah, and increasing the number of armed cavasses at the Consulate for the purpose of accompanying the British caravans travelling in Arabia and protecting the pilgrims from murder, outrage, and robbery.
§ * LORD G. HAMILTONThe Government of India is, I believe, kept fully informed as to the conditions under which British Indian Mahomedans have to perform their pilgrimage. The Viceroy has made no recent representation to Her Majesty's Government on this subject; but, as was stated by the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs in this House on June 22nd, Her Majesty's Government have taken, and will continue to take, all steps in their power for the protection of Indian pilgrims. Since then£1,700 has been paid by the Turkish Government to certain British Indian subjects as a compensation for outrages committed by Bedouins during the pilgrimage. A British ship-of-war occasionally visits Jeddah, but I am not disposed to think that it would be advisable to adopt the measures suggested in the question. It should be remembered that any direct interference on the part of Her Majesty's Government with the Mecca pilgrimage would be distasteful to the Moslem community.