§ MR. HEDDERWICK (Wick Burghs)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the British Minister Plenipotentiary at Teheran, Sir Mortimer Durand, left Persia at the beginning of April; whether his departure has any connection with the recent loan by Russia; and whether, for the 878 last two years, the British Government had the offer of the same loan on substantially the same terms.
§ * MR. BRODRICKSir Mortimer Durand has returned to England on leave in the ordinary course, on his own application to be allowed to take such leave as was duo to him. He left Teheran on the 7th March. His departure has no connection with the recent loan. In reply to paragraph 3 I can only repeat the answer I gave to the hon. Member on the 1st of March†— namely, that no proposals have been made to Her Majesty's Government for a loan to Persia on terms which they have felt themselves able to accept.