§ MR. STEVENSON (Suffolk, Eye)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government are able to confirm the statements made on the authority of the Commissioners of the Grosvenor House Committee in Kurdistan, that the supply of grain in the vilayet of Van is practically in the hands of a syndicate of merchants, who by hoarding the grain are artificially 922 raising prices; and whether, in view of the distress prevailing in that province amongst the agricultural population, the British Ambassador at Constantinople has been able to induce the Turkish Government to adopt remedial measures at Van.
§ * MR. BRODRICKHer Majesty's Vice-Consul at Van has mentioned in despatches the hoarding of wheat by local merchants in the hopes of a further rise in price, and he reported in February that the Vali had forced the sale of these stores of wheat. Her Majesty's Ambassador lost no time in calling the attention of the Turkish Foreign Minister to the distress in the vilayet of Van, and expressed his hope that the necessary assistance would be afforded. In March Captain Maunsell reported that the Government had allotted a sum of £2,000 for the distribution of seed in the vilayet, that a mixed Commission had been appointed, and that relief work was progressing favourably.