§ MR. HENNIKER HEATON (Canterbury)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether nine years have elapsed since the Delagoa Railway case was sent to a tribunal for arbitration, and that the final decision was promised before last autumn; whether there is any prospect of the decision being promulgated within a reasonable time; and whether the lease by Portugal of Delagoa Bay for a term of years to the British Government is awaiting the decision of the experts in the Railway case?
§ MR. BRODRICKThe answer to the first portion of the Question is in the-affirmative, but no promise as to the date of the final decision appears to have been given. Her Majesty's Government trust that the decision on this question will not now be much further prolonged, but we have no power to accelerate it. The answer to the last paragraph of the-Question is in the negative.