SIR WALTER FOSTER (Derbyshire, Ilkeston)I beg to ask the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has received information of a severe outbreak of cholera at Kerman-shah, and of the infection of the districts Maidasht, Songur, Sarat, and Hamadan, in Persia; and whether he will take care that the quarantine arrangements at Bisitun, and on the Turkish frontier, are not unnecessarily injurious to British trade through Bagdad.
§ EARL PERCYWe are aware of the existence of cholera in all the districts except Sarat, as to which no information has been received. His Majesty's Minister at Teheran reports that the measures taken by the Persian authorities do not appear to be in excess of those allowed by the Venice Convention. Sir A. Hardinge asked for the suspension of these measures in the interests of trade when cholera seemed to be dying out at Kermanshah about a month ago; and will no doubt renew his endeavours when circumstances permit. The Turkish authorities at Bagdad have imposed five days quarantine at Khanikin on arrivals from Kermanshah.