Lords Sitting of 10 July 1876

MINUTES.
PUBLIC BILLS—First Reading—Customs Duties Consolidation* (162); Customs Laws Consolidation* (163); Elver Fishing* (164); Notices to Quit (Ireland)* (165).
Second Reading—Settled Estates Act (1856) Amendment* (151).
Committee—Local Government Board's Provisional Orders Confirmation (Bingley, &c)* (136).
Committee—Report—Local Government Provisional Orders, Bristol, &c. (No. 6)* (129); Waterford, New Ross, and Wexford Junction Railway (Sale)* (133);Crab and Lobster Fisheries (Norfolk)* (154); Local Light Dues (Reduction)* (132); Wild Fowl Preservation* (134).
Report—Union of Benefices* (147); Friendly Societies Act (1875) Amendment* (149).
Third Reading—Saint Vincent, Tobago, and Grenada Constitution* (156), and passed.

TURKEY—ALLEGED ATROCITIES IN BULGARIA.—QUESTION.
EARL GRANVILLE: I beg to put a Question to the noble Earl the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, of which I have given him private Notice, with regard to the alleged atrocities in Bulgaria on the part of the irregular troops of the Porte. I shall be glad to know if he has any information of an official character which he can communicate to the House?
THE EARL OF DERBY: I am not in a position to give any definite information of the kind which the noble Earl desires. After the Question which was put the other day by a noble Duke who is not now in his place (the Duke of Argyll), I wrote to Sir Henry Elliot to know what information he could give on the subject. Sufficient time has not yet elapsed for an answer to be received. Seeing, however, that statements of a similar character to those referred to in this House have been repeated in the Press, and that they have excited strong public feeling in this country, I this morning, before Notice of the Question reached me from the noble Earl, telegraphed to Sir Henry Elliot to communicate to us what he knows on the subject with the least possible delay. At present the only information I have on the matter in question is unofficial, and it does not confirm to anything like the full extent

1169
the statements which have appeared in the Press.
House adjourned at half past Five o'clock, till To-morrow, half past Ten o'clock.