MR. GIBSON BOWLES (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether His Majesty's Government have received any information as to purchases by a Russian consul of land in the Island of Bahrein, in the Persian Gulf, and, if so, can he state what is the extent of those purchases; and whether, with a view to prevent complications in Persia, His Majesty's Government will take advantage of the approaching visit to England of the Shah of Persia to concert with His Majesty and also with the Russian Government measures calculated to secure the independence and integrity of Persia by a formal Treaty to be substituted for the expression of views and the assurance of desiresand intentions which form the understanding embodied in correspondence between 1834 and 1888 and now existing.
§ *THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord CRANBORNE, Rochester)The answer to the first paragraph is in the negative. I am confident that neither the House nor my hon. friend will expect me to make any statement as to the subjects which it may be possible to discuss with the Shah of Persia during his visit to this country.