§ MR. HART-DAVIES (Hackney, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs when the Brussels Arms Conference may be expected to conclude their labours; whether all that they can do is to report to their respective Governments the steps they may think it desirable to take; and whether, as the trade in arms through Muscat is increasingly dangerous and the Brussels Conference may take some time to report, he will consider the advisability of using pressure on the Imam of Muscat to stop this trade as much as possible.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYI cannot name any definite day at present as to when the Arms Conference may be expected to conclude its labours. I presume 956 that certain arrangements will be drawn up by the Conference which will be signed or reserved as the case may be by the representatives of the various Powers. As regards the suggested representations to the Sultan of Muscat, the matter has to be considered in connection with the obligations imposed on the Sultan by his treaties with other Powers besides Great Britain, and I can only repeat that the matter continues to occupy our attention.
In answer to a further Question by Mr. HART-DAVIES——
§ SIR EDWARD GREYsaid the whole subject of this trade in arms was engaging the attention of the Government.
§ MR. REESCould it not be provided that European Powers when adopting new arms should not dispose of the discarded weapons in suspected quarters, for which they would be likely to be used on our frontiers.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYasked for notice.