§ MR. JAMES O'KELLY (Roscommon, N.)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether any proposal has been made by the Turkish Government to increase the tariff charges on goods imported into Asia Minor; whether he has any official information showing that such increased taxation would fall chiefly on British merchandise, and that the Turkish Government intends to apply the proceeds of the increased taxation to promoting the construction of a railway from Konia to the Persian Gulf; and whether, in view of the commercial and political interests of Great Britain, His Majesty's Government will refuse to consent to any increase in the tariff on British goods imported into Asia Minor.
§ *VISCOUNT CRANBORNEWith regard to the two first paragraphs, there is no further information to add to the answer given to the noble Lord the Member for the Cricklade Division of Wiltshire, on the 18th instant, in reply to a similar question.† The proposal of the Turkish Government was that there should be an increase in the tariff for the
† See page 708.1204 whole Turkish Empire, and was not confined to Asia Minor, and it made no reference to the railway from Konia to the Persian Gulf.