§ Mr. LANSBURYasked whether His Majesty's Government can see its way to order the release of Mahmud, the Mahdist emir, taken prisoner at the battle of Atbara in 1898, seeing that he was a prisoner of war taken in open fight, and is now an old and broken man incapable of being any danger to the Empire?
§ Sir E. GREYAs I have already stated, in reply to similar questions in previous years, the remaining Dervish prisoners are very well cared for, and appear to be well-satisfied. Their families are with them, they are well fed and housed, and not subject to any severe disciplinary regulations. The few that have not been released are considered by the inhabitants of the Soudan as responsible for the massacres perpetrated during the years immediately preceding the reconquest of the country. The feeling or resentment against them has not yet died out; and they would, if brought back to the Soudan, undoubtedly be exposed to danger.