§ Mr. MARKHAMasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether His Majesty's Government had any official information showing that Bu Hamara was executed by order of the Sultan Malai Hafid on 12th September, immediately following representations made to the Sultan by the foreign consuls against the torturing of prisoners by him; did His Majesty's consul join in this protest of the foreign consuls; and, if so, what steps he proposed taking, if any, to see that representations made by His Majesty's Government are not treated with contempt?
§ Colonel SEELY (for Sir E. Grey)The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. I have already stated that a collective representation against the torture of prisoners was made by all the Treaty Powers. I cannot at present foreshadow the action of His Majesty's Government in a hypothetical contingency. The action taken hitherto has been collective action, and any consequences of it will presumably be considered collectively by the foreign representatives, if necessary.