§ MR. MOON (St. Pancras, N.)To ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will give the date of the communication from the Russian Government as to the establishment of relations between Russia and Afghanistan; and whether he will give the reference to any Parliamentary Paper which sets out the terms of the understanding by which Russia agrees to treat Afghanistan as outside the sphere of her influence.
(Answered by Lord Cranborne.) The date of the communication from the Russian Government is 6th February 1900. The Parliamentary Papers containing information as to the engagement of the Russian Government to consider Afghanistan outside their sphere of influence are: Central Asia, No.2 (1873), pages 2 and 12; Russia No. (1874), page 9; Central Asia, No. 1 (1878), pages 5, 7, 68, 69, 105, and 164: Central Asia, No. 1 (1879), page 10; Central Asia, No. 1 (1884), pages 5 and 92; Central Asia, No. 2 (1885), pages 29, 194, and 195.