§ MR LABOUCHERETo ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been directed to the statement made in the Italian Chamber by the Under Secretary for Foreign Affairs; and whether Lord Lansdowne has assured the Italian Ambassador in London, and His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires at Rome has assured the Italian Government, that there is no intention to establish British coal depôts either at Bombah or Fobruck, or at any other point on the seaboard of Tripoli.
(Answered by Lord Cranborne.) The answer to both Questions is in the affirmative. The rumour is absolutely without foundation.