§ MR. SWIFT MACNEILLI beg to ask the Secretary of State for India if he will say what steps have been taken to secure the payment of the claims of British Indian subjects who have been robbed by brigands when journeying between Jeddah and the Mohammedan shrines of Mecca and Medina; and whether His Majesty s Government will consider the advisability of co-operating with the Netherlands Government in proposing to the Ottoman authorities the necessity for establishing an international police force for the protection of British and Dutch subjects travelling in the Hedjaz.
§ LORD CRANBORNEAs my right hon. friend and predecessor stated in this House in reply to a Question on the 16th of March, 1900, the claims of British Indian pilgrims for losses by robbery in the Hedjaz between 1892 and 1898 have been settled.† No further information in regard to such claims has been received since that date. His Majesty's Government are not prepared to make the proposal suggested in the last paragraph of the Question.