§ MR. BRYCE (Aberdeen, S.)To ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has received official information to the effect that the Governments of Russia and Austria have increased or intimated their intention to increase the number of their officers in Macedonia supervising the gendarmerie there; and, if so, whether His Majesty's Government propose to increase the number of their gendarmerie officers also.
(Answered by Earl Percy.) An intimation has just reached us that the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Ambassadors have asked for an increase in the number of their officers employed in reorganising the Macedonian gendarmerie. His Majesty's Government consider that they have a right to demand equality with the other Powers in regard to any such increase, but the number of officers required for each district must of course be governed by the circumstances and extent of its area. His Majesty's Government are anxious that no unnecessary burdens should be imposed upon Turkey, and, if an all - round increase of the European staff be decided upon, it may possibly be found more economical and useful to employ any surplus officers, who are not required in the districts already comprised in the gendarmerie scheme, either in supervising a gradual extension of the scheme to other areas not yet included, or in affording assistance to the
‡ See (4) Debates, cxxxviii., 1464.963 Turkish authorities in other departments of the administration.