MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Her Majesty's Government have given attention to the statements to the effect that the Russian Government has already commenced the construction in Persia of the Zulfa-Tabriz-Hamadan line of railway, with a branch to Teheran, and which is to terminate at Bunder Abbas at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and that several officers of the general staff have been instructed to watch over the works, having under their orders several regiments of Cossacks; whether Her Majesty's Government are informed that Persia will grant to Russia the port of Bunder Abbas on the same terms as those under which Port Arthur has been leased to Russia by China, and that it is the intention of Russia to construct a military port and a dockyard, fortified or otherwise, at Bunder Abbas; and whether Her Majesty's Government have made, or propose to make, any representations on this subject to the Government of Russia or of Persia.
§ *MR. BRODRICKHer Majesty's Government have received no information tending to confirm these statements, and have no grounds for making representations to the Russian Government in regard to them.