§ 26 and 27. Mr. STRANGERasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) whether his attention has been called to the fact that British owners have been informed by the Turkish Government that British salvage vessels will not in future be allowed to carry on salvage operations in Turkish waters; whether he is aware that the Turkish Government purports to reserve for its nationals the right of salving in Turkish waters exclusively by means of Turkish vessels, and whether, in view of the large amount of traffic passing through the narrow waters of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus to and from the Black Sea, the action of the Turkish Government is such as to jeopardise the lives of British seamen in the event of shipwreck and to interfere with the preservation of British property; and what steps he intends to take in the matter;
(2) whether the claim of the Turkish Government to reserve to its nationals the salving of all vessels in distress in Turkish waters will be or has been conceded by the British Government; whether this will result in the amount of salvage being determined by the Turkish courts or Turkish Government; whether he is aware that it will be possible under Turkish law for the owner of a British vessel which stranded in Turkish waters and the owner of the cargo on that vessel to lose their property by its confiscation as reward for salvors; and if he can say what protection will be afforded to British shipowners and merchants in the event of shipwreck in Turkish waters against such confiscation?
§ The PRIME MINISTERIn consequence of a claim by the Turkish Government to include salvage operations among the interior services reserved to the Turkish flag by Article 9 of the Commercial Convention, which forms part of the Lausanne settlement, protests were addressed to that Government on the 3rd January and on the 23rd January by the Allied representatives at Constantinople. No reply has hitherto been received from the Turkish Government, but His Majesty's Government will continue to press for a satisfactory settlement of this question.