§ MR. J. M. ROBERTSONI beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to the increasing insecurity of life in Egypt, particularly as exemplified in the long and continued series of attempts at train-wrecking in the Behera Province, in connection with none of which have the authorities been able to secure a conviction; whether he is aware that such failure is commonly asserted to be due in part to the jealousy existing between police and the parquet; and whether, in view of these and other instances of inefficiency in the machinery for the prevention of crime in Egypt, he will now urge upon the Egyptian Government the expediency of a thorough investigation of the system, with the aid and counsel of natives of due experience in public affairs.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYI am in communication with His Majesty's Agent at Cairo respecting the reported cases of 2131 lawlessness furnished me by the hon. Member. Pending Sir Eldon Gorst's Report, I am not prepared to urge any special course of action on the Egyptian Government.