§ Mr. KINGasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been directed to the case of Mr. H. P. King, who has been fined £5 and sentenced to a week's imprisonment by the Consular Court at Tientsin for disobeying an injunction obtained against him by the Pekin Syndicate; whether he is aware that the injunction was to restrain publication in this country of information concerning the syndicate's activities in the Far East, and that. Mr. King's letters to a London newspaper were dispatched and received before the injunction was obtained, their recall being impossible; and whether steps will be taken by the Foreign Office to quash the sentence and prevent the use of the Consular Court for the purpose of restricting communications concerning enterprises in China in which British capital is invested?
§ Sir E. GREYI have no official information regarding this matter, but a report shall be obtained. I would, however, point out that His Majesty's Government have no control over the judicial decisions of His Majesty's Consular Courts in China.