§ THE EARL OF HALSBURY: My Lords, I should like to ask the noble Lord 99 the Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs whether His Majesty's Government have any information to communicate to the House as to the position in the Sinai Peninsula.
THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord FITZ-MAURICE)My Lords, I am glad to be able to inform your Lordships that an agreement has been come to in regard to the matters in dispute in the Sinai Peninsula and on the Turco-Egyptian frontier. The Porte has informed our Ambassador at Constantinople that it does not question the telegram of April 8th, 1902; that a joint Commission will be appointed to make a topographical survey and map with a view to fixing the boundaries, so as to secure the maintenance of the status quo on the basis of the telegram above mentioned, and that the boundary will run from Rafeh in a south-easterly direction and in approximately a straight line to a point not less than three miles from Akaba. The Grand Vizier has also informed His Majesty's Ambassador that Tabah and all the other places in the neighbourhood recently occupied by Turkish troops have been evacuated and the troops withrawn to Akaba. I have already informed the House that a promise had been received that the pillars at Rafeh will be restored. It will thus be seen that all the demands of His Majesty's Government have been fully met.