§ MR. KEIR HARDIE (Merthyr Tydvil)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to the case of Mr. Tchaikovsky, who has for the past eight months been a prisoner in the fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul, St. Petersburg; whether he can say if any charge has been preferred against the accused or when he is likely to be brought to trial; and whether, as Mr. Tchaikovsky has been for thirty years a resident in Great Britain, where his family still reside and practice their professions, and where Mr. Tchaikovsky has not only borne an excellent character but earned a high reputation in the world of letters, he will make such representations as will ensure that Mr. Tchaikovsky may either be brought to trial or be released from confinement and allowed to return to his home in London.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYMr. Tchaikovsky is not a British subject, and the matter is therefore not one in which official action could be taken.