§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether an Imperial Iradé has been issued by the Sultan giving to Russian subjects the sole right of constructing railways in a large portion of Asia Minor fronting she Black Sea; and, if so, whether Her Majesty's Government have made any protest against this monopoly and new sphere of interest, the practical effect of which will be to prevent the industrial development of Asia Minor.
§ *MR. BRODRICKHer Majesty's Government understand that an arrangement sanctioned by Imperial Iradé has been arrived at between Turkey and Russia by which the Turkish Government reserve to themselves the right to construct railways in the North of Asia Minor, and in case they do not make the railways themselves they undertake to grant the exclusive right of construction to Russian subjects on the same terms as the concession of the Anatolian Railways to the Germans. Her Majesty's Government have no official cognisance of this arrangement, and no protest has been made against it.
§ SIR E. ASHMEAD-BARTLETTWill the Government protest when they get the official information?
§ [No answer was returned.]