HC Deb 04 February 1904 vol 129 cc343-4
MR. GIBSON BOWLES

I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs has any information been received by the Government as to the intention of the Governments of Servia and Bulgaria shortly to join with the Macedonian insurgents in hostilities against Turkey, and have His Majesty's Government taken any steps to secure the execution of the provisions of the Treaty of Berlin by the creation of autonomous provinces in the Balkans under the suzerainty of the Sultan, or in any other manner to secure the maintenance of peace in European Turkey.

* EARL PERCY

His Majesty's Government have received no information of the nature indicated in the first paragraph of the Question. The steps taken by His Majesty's Government with a view of securing the maintenance of peace in European Turkey are fully described in the Papers which have just been presented to the House. They have devoted their efforts to supporting and strengthening the schemes of reform advanced by the Austro-Hungarian and Russian Governments, and urging that those reforms should be promptly put into execution.

MR. GIBSON BOWLES

Have the Government considered the propriety of calling a conference of European Powers on the subject?

* EARL PERCY

I must ask for notice of that Question.