§ Colonel YATEI beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs a question of which I have given him private notice: Whether he can give any information as regards the case of Mr. W. A. Wheeler, of Leicester, who, it is reported, was arrested in Japan on 25th January last, and has now been found guilty of coming to Japan with intention to defraud by selling knitting machines of an obsolete pattern in excess of their value and sentenced to four years' penal servitude?
§ Mr. ACLANDI have been in communication with the firm of solicitors acting in this country for Messrs. Genz, Wheeler and Company since the arrest of Mr. Wheeler on 11th January, and the matter has been receiving the attention, both of His Majesty's Embassy at Tokio, and of His Majesty's Consulate-General at Yokohama. I have no information regarding the result of the case, beyond what has already appeared in the Press, but I have telegraphed to His Majesty's Ambassador for a full report.