§ SIR JOHN LENGI beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Mr. Kinder, the chief engineer of the Tientsin Railway, a British subject in the employment of the Chinese railway administration, was entitled to call upon General Barrow to interfere in the recent siding dispute: whether General Barrow had any authority to send the telegram ordering him to proceed with the work by force if necessary; and whether Mr. Kinder, having provoked a misunderstanding with Russia by a display of force, will be 54 permitted to take a similar course in the future on the supposition that he is countenanced by His Majesty's Government.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (Lord G. HAMILTON, Middlesex, Ealing)The hon. Member appears to be under a misapprehension as to the facts of the case. The railway is at present under the control and management of the British military authorities, who are working it for the common benefit of the allied forces. It was Colonel MacDonald, R. E., not Mr. Kinder, who referred for instructions to General Gaselee when the dispute arose as to the ownership of the land upon which the siding was to be built. General Barrow did not at any time order the work to be continued by force.