§ SIR BERKELEY SHEFFIELDI beg to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, whether, owing to the small speed attained by the gunboats stationed in the Persian Gulf, dhows are continually escaping arrest which are employed in slave and gun-running operations; and whether the Government will employ vessels of a greater speed to suppress this traffic.
§ * MR. GEORGE LAMBERTThere are no grounds for supposing that His Majesty's ships in the Persian Gulf have failed to arrest dhows owing to a want of sufficient speed. It is not intended at present to employ vessels of a greater speed on the service indicated. The general question of the control of the arms traffic is now receiving consideration.