§ LORD CHARLES BERESFORD (York)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that on 2nd January, 1899, the premises of Messrs. Evans, Pugh, and Company (a British firm at Hankow) were forcibly entered by Cossacks, who prevented hides being carried in and threw their goods on the premises outside; whether the premises referred to were included in the Russian concession; whether the Foreign Office made two distinct declarations that British-owned property cannot be included in Russian concession without consent of owner; whether the owner of the afore-mentioned premises protested on sixteen occasions against the inclusion of his property in the Russian concession; and whether he 1141 can inform the House as to the present position of Messrs. Evans and Pugh, Messrs. Jardine and Matheson, Messrs. Bassoon, and other British owners in Hankow whose land was appropriated or sold by auction by the Russian Consul.
§ MR. BRODRICKOn the 2nd January Her Majesty's Minister at Pekin received a telegram from the British Consul at Hankow stating that the Cossack police had prevented the hides being conveyed to Mr. Whistler's premises in the Russian concession. Sir C. MacDonald at once communicated with his Russian colleague, who telegraphed to Hankow ordering all such action to be stopped. At the instance of Her Majesty's Consul at Hankow the Russian authorities had repeatedly granted extensions of the term allowed to Messrs. Evans, Pugh and Company to find another site for their business, tanneries not being permitted near dwelling-houses by municipal regulations. Her Majesty's Government hold that no British-owned property can be included in a foreign concession without the owners consent, and a large addition to the British concession at Hankow was demanded from and granted by the Chinese authorities as compensation in consequence of this having been done at Hankow. Messrs. Evans, Pugh's case has been settled by their acceptance of an offer made to them by the Chinese authorities, which will enable them to carry on their business in the British extension without loss. The case of Messrs. Jardine, Matheson's lots is at present under discussion with the Russian Government. It is a question of title. As regards Messrs. Sassoon's case, Her Majesty's Minister reported on February 14th that matters were awaiting the return from England of their agent, and we have no more recent information.