§ SIR WILLIAM BULLTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs 1595 whether his attention has been drawn to the ease of twenty-five British Indians who recently were arrested in Delagoa Bay by the Portuguese authorities, on a charge of being in possession of passes not their own, and were without trial sent off to work as prisoners on the Delagoa Bay Railway; whether he will ascertain if the British Consul at Lorenzo Marques took any steps on behalf of these British subjects; and whether he is aware that dissatisfaction exists by reason of the general conduct of the British consulate in respect of British Indians both residing in and passing through Portuguese territory.
(Answered by Secretary Sir Edward Grey.) His Majesty's Government have no information that British Indians have recently been arrested at Delagoa Bay. A Report is being called for from His Majesty's Consul General at Lorenzo Marques in regard to the matter. With respect to the last portion of the hon. Member's Question, the answer is in the negative. I have had no reason to suppose that this is the case.