for the coercive policy of the Govern- | prevents the gun being fired before the HIGHWAY RATES-SMALL TENE- MR. ONSLOW (for Colonel BRISE) asked the President of the Local Government Board, Whether his attention has been called to the difficulties that Rates from small and indigent occupiers, now exist in the collection of Highway the auditors in some districts having called their own pockets, in cases where the upon the surveyors to pay out of rent cannot be collected; owners of small tenements not being able to compound NAVY-EXPLOSION ON BOARD H.M.S. for the Highway Rate in same way as locked? gun, MR. CAMPBELL - BANNERMAN: No, Sir. The men serving on board Her Majesty's Ship Swiftsure had not been trained before leaving Plymouth in the use of the new 25-pounder breechloading gun; but they had been trained with the old breech-loading gun, which is not so simple as the new one. As the Swiftsure was going to the Pacific for some years, the Admiralty was desirous of fitting her with these new guns, and this was done on the eve of her departure. It was considered that, as the mode of working them is extremely simple, the well-trained and intelligent seamen-gunners would have no difficulty in at once learning the drill, which was supplied to them. The guns have been tried at Woolwich and Shoeburyness, the trials extending over several months; and two are also mounted in a gunboat, from which 75 rounds have been fired. These guns being radial-vented, no mechanical arrangement is fitted which Mr. T. P. O'Connor for Poor Rate under the " Small Tenements Act?" MR. DODSON: Sir, my attention has been called to the difficulties in the collection of highway rates from small occupiers, in consequence of the repeal of the Small Tenements Rating Act; but I am not aware of any cases in which the auditors have surcharged the surveyors with the rates in cases where the rent of the property cannot be collected. I may add that a Bill for restoring the power of compounding for the highway rates on small tenements is in a forward state of preparation, and I hope to introduce it shortly. recommends that they should be dealt with under the local Acts in force in London. These Acts, however, confer upon the Local Government Board no power to interfere. At the same time, I hope that, as the attention of the local authority has been directed to the subject, they will proceed to take the necessary steps to remedy the evil complained of. As regards the accumulation of casuals near the spot, I will call the attention of the Guardians to the subject, with a view of seeing how far the evil can be prevented; but I may add that the casual wards adjoining the court were carefully inspected on Saturday last, and were found to be clean and in good order throughout, and there has been no case of infection there for many years. PROTECTION OF PERSON AND PROPERTY (IRELAND) ACT, 1881-POLICE PROTECTION FOR CARETAKERS IN COUNTY WICKLOW. MR. W. J. CORBET asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, Whether it is true that a number of policemen have been placed with caretakers of several vacant farms from which the tenants were evicted in the parishes of Blackditches and Hollywood, County Wicklow, on the property of the Marquess of Waterford; whether it is the fact that no outrage of any kind has occurred in those districts, or in the whole county, during the land agitation; and whether, under the circumstances, the local police are not sufficient to afford protection if any is required; how many extra police are engaged in the duty, and who pays for them; and, whether, looking to the peaceful state of the county, he will order the extra police to be withdrawn? MR. TREVELYAN: Sir, there are four protection posts on Lord Waterford's property in the County Wicklow. There have been 45 outrages in that district since the 1st of January, 1880, attributable to the land agitation, and over 100 such outrages in the county, which is very peaceable in other respects than in agrarian crime. Twelve men of the constabulary are engaged in this protection duty. They are paid for in part by the Government, and in part by the county. Owing to the prevalence of intimidation and "Boycotting," the local authorities-magistrates and constabu lary-are of opinion that isolated caretakers on evicted farms would not be safe; and I cannot, therefore, order the withdrawal of the extra police. EGYPT (POLITICAL AFFAIRS)—RIOTS AT ALEXANDRIA-THE PAPERS. MR. BOURKE: Sir, I have to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the Question which stands on the Paper in my name-namely, when the further Papers on Egypt will be produced; and perhaps the hon. Baronet will take this opportunity of answering two or three other Questions of which I have given him private Notice. I wish to know whether he is able to inform the House as to the state of Alexandria at the present moment; whether any of the occurrences which are reported in the newspapers as having taken place there yesterday have really taken place; whether a British officer has been killed, and the British Consul has been wounded; also, whether the British Consulate is in the possession of the captain of a manof-war? I should like also to ask upon whom does the responsibility rest now for the peace of Alexandria; further, what are the instructions issued by the Porte to Dervish Pasha; whether they have been communicated to England, France, or the other Powers; and, whether the condition into which Egypt has lapsed is to be allowed to continue? LORD EUSTACE CECIL: Before the Under Secretary answers the Questions of my right hon. Friend, I should like to repeat the Question which I put on Friday last-namely, Whether, since the occurrences that have taken place, Her Majesty's Government have come to the conclusion that there is any apprehension as to the personal security of the Khedive; and whether, should there be the slightest doubt in the mind of the Government on the subject, any effective measures are likely to be taken to prevent any personal discourtesy being shown towards His Highness? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: Sir, I hope that the further Papers with regard to the affairs of Egypt will be ready for distribution before the close of next week. MR. BOURKE: Next week? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: Yes. The Papers have been referred by telegraph to Sir Edward Malet, and pro bably his first answer will not be con- | nience from that cause. It is also asked clusive. MR. BOURKE: Up to what date will the Papers be delivered? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I do not know that we shall be able to issue the whole to the end of May at once; but if not they will be divided into two sections, the first section coming down to the 17th of May, and the other to the end of May. The most important Papers are those about the middle of May, which will be included in the first section. With regard to the further Questions put to me by my right hon. Friend, Her Majesty's Government have received a telegram from Vice Consul Calvert, at Alexandria, dated 10.40 last night, which states that a serious riot had taken place in the afternoon between Europeans and Arabs, and that Mr. Pibworth, an engineer of Her Majesty's ship Superb, had been killed and many wounded, among whom were, I regret to state, Mr. Cookson, Her Majesty's Consul, and three constables of the Consulate. A further telegram from Mr. Calvert of this morning states that the women and children who sought refuge in the Consulate have been transferred to the ships, and that the military are maintaining order. Mr. Calvert adds that Mr. Cookson's injuries are not serious, and that he is convalescent. The latest telegram received this morning from Mr. Calvert is of a re-assuring nature. Sir Edward Malet has telegraphed that the Khedive has sent an aide-de-camp to Alexandria. The Native and the English authorities concur in advising that sailors or marines should not be landed. Sir Beauchamp Seymour has power to land them should he think it necessary; but he has telegraphed that the disturbance, though serious, was of a non-political character, and was suppressed by the Egyptian troops. Telegraphing at 2 o'clock, Mr. Calvert states that the town was then very quiet, and that everybody in the streets was being searched and disarmed. The person in the first instance responsible for order is the Governor of Alexandria, who appears to be a man of some capacity and energy. He is receiving in this curious and anomalous state of things instructions both from the Khedive directly, and also from Dervish Pasha; but as these concur completely, he has been under no practical inconve Sir Charles W. Dilke me whether anarchy will be allowed to continue? I think I must answer simply that it is, of course, impossible that such a state of things could be allowed to continue. The noble Lord (Lord Eustace Cecil) repeats a Question he put a day or two ago with regard to the personal safety of the Khedive. We have no reason to modify the answer which was then given. The telegrams from Constantinople and from Sir Edward Malet with reference to the safety of the Khedive are of a re-assuring nature. MR. BOURKE: The Consulate ? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: The Consulate is in the hands of Mr. Calvert, the Vice Consul. MR. BOURKE: What are the instructions of the Porte to Dervish Pasha? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: The instructions of the Porte to Dervish Pasha were communicated to us in general terms, and in general terms they may be said to resemble very closely indeed the bases proposed to the Conference. They are almost the same. MR. ONSLOW: I wish to ask whether, after what has happened in Alexandria, any precautions have been taken by the Government to preserve the lives and property of Her Majesty's subjects in Cairo; and, also, whether any precautions have been taken to provide against any molestation taking place with regard to the Peninsular and Oriental steamships and other ships in their passage through the Suez Canal? SIR GEORGE CAMPBELL: I beg to ask whether Her Majesty's Government have any information, with reference to this unfortunate collision between the Europeans and the Arabs, as to who were the aggressors in the first instance; and whether, as one of the daily papers says, the disturbance commenced by a Maltese attacking an Arab? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I have seen the statement; but we have no information on the subject. With reference to the question regarding the safety of the Europeans in Cairo, I have already read some words of Sir Edward Malet, to the effect that Dervish Pasha and the Khedive concur in advising that the sailors and marines should not be landed. That applies to the safety of the people in Cairo as well as in Alex SIR HENRY TYLER: Does the Government propose to adopt the advice of Dervish Pasha and leave the Europeans to their fate? andria. Dervish Pasha states he is perfectly able to maintain order in Cairo. With reference to the Suez Canal, I may tell the hon. Member that we have gunboats at each end of the Canal, we are in telegraphic communication with Sir Beauchamp Seymour, and no reports of an alarming nature about the Canal have reached us. MR. O'DONNELL: I should like to ask the Government if they would make inquiry as to whether it is the case that the mob of Arabs assembled in the streets of Alexandria were only armed with clubs and sticks, while the Europeans fired upon them from their windows, and that there is a large party among the Europeans resident in Alexandria desirous of provoking intervention; whether a very large portion of European residents in Egypt, or a considerable portion, is composed of the most desperate elements in the Levant; and whether Her Majesty's Government will use their influence to supervise the action of the European residents and prevent them from provoking the Arab population, as well as in protecting British subjects against the possibility of outbreak on the part of the Arabs? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I may point out to the hon. Member that the majority of wounds inflicted were caused by clubs and knives, and, in addition to this, the number of Arabs reported killed is only three; I gather, also, that there were more Europeans hurt, including Greeks and Maltese subjects, than Arabs. The British Consul was wounded by a pistol shot; and, therefore, under the circumstances, I cannot draw the inference suggested by the hon. Member. MR. ASHMEAD-BARTLETT: I wish to ask whether the Porte had been invited by the Government to send troops to Alexandria to quell the disturbances; and, also, whether the hon. Baronet can state how many British subjects have been wounded? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: We have not received any news of the nationality of the persons wounded. The telegrams speak of Europeans in general terms, without specifying nationalities. In regard to sending Turkish troops to maintain order, I must ask the hon. Member to wait until the Papers come, and he will see. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I can add nothing to what I have already stated. Sir Beauchamp Seymour has power to land seamen and marines if he thinks it advisable to do so. MR. NORTHCOTE: I wish to ask whether the substance of the conversation with Musurus Pasha and the conversation of Lord Dufferin will be included in the Papers to be presented to the House? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: I see no objection to include the conversation between Musurus Pasha and Lord Granville in the Papers, or Lord Dufferin's conversation with the Turkish Minister at Constantinople on the same subject, though as to the latter I am not so sure. MR. A. J. BALFOUR: Events march so rapidly now that it is extremely desirable that the Papers should be brought down to a later date than the 1st of June. SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: The Papers are being printed as they come in, in the usual way, and nothing more can be done in the way of hurrying the later Papers, because the whole staff is at work on the earlier ones. Still, there is no sort of objection to getting them out as rapidly as possible. SIR STAFFORD NORTHCOTE: Do I understand that the consent of the French Government has been obtained to the publication of the later Papers? SIR CHARLES W. DILKE: Yes, Sir; the French Government has given its consent, not indeed to the publication of everything, but to enough to enable us to put our case before the House. PUBLIC HEALTH-UNQUALIFIED MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS. MR. H. SAMUELSON asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to recent cases of the treatment of the sick, by unqualified medical practitioners, at dispensaries at the East end of London, to the death of two children so treated, and to the observations of the coroner at the inquest upon them, on June 5th, to the effect that it appeared that a certain qualified doctor (who TAKERS. keeps several dispensaries) saw one of the children a few minutes before its ARMY (IRELAND)-SOLDIERS AS CAREdeath, and was thereby enabled to "cover the delinquencies of the other person," i.e. the unqualified person who had treated the case in the dispensary, and that "it was no doubt an unsatisfactory state of things to think that the lives of the poor were in the hands of such persons; whether he has ob GENERAL SIR GEORGE BALFOUR asked the Secretary of State for War, To state how many, and in what ranks, soldiers are taken away in Ireland for duties as caretakers, and for other duties usually confided to police, and to explain under what Article of the Military Reguserved that the above-mentioned un-lations, or by what powers, are enlisted qualified practitioner (who calls himself soldiers withdrawn from Military duties a colonel and a barrister, as well as to perform duties destructive of discipractising as a medical man) admitted pline; and to say when will such employthat, under an authorisation from the ment cease? qualified doctor who keeps the dispensary, he had signed certificates in that person's name; whether he can take any steps to prevent such illegalities; and, whether he can obtain power, either by the appointment of Government Inspectors, the issue of Government licences, or some other efficacious means to prevent the sick poor from being attended by unqualified medical practitioners at the Metropolitan dispen saries? MR. J. G. HUBBARD asked the Postmaster General, Whether the petition of the Metropolitan auxiliary letter carriers that their remuneration be assimilated to that of the established Staff by certain changes, comprising, inter alia, a slight addition to their pay for each duty, an extra pay for extra work, and a week's holiday in each year, may be reasonably conceded without detriment to the public Service? MR. FAWCETT: Sir, the question of the position and pay of the auxiliary letter carriers in the Metropolitan district, to which my right hon. Friend refers, forms part of the larger question of the position and pay of letter carriers generally, which is now the subject of correspondence between myself and the Treasury. A final decision may be expected very shortly. Mr. H. Samuelson MR. CHILDERS: Sir, in reply to my hon. and gallant Friend, I have to remind him that it is one of the first duties of a soldier to act in aid of the Civil power, and that the exact manner of rendering this aid must depend on the circumstances of each case, provided that the requirements of the Army Acts are always observed. In Ireland about 500 officers and men are so employed, and we have acted in the matter strictly under the advice of the Law Officers of the Crown, and on the urgent requisition of the Civil Government. Of course, I regret the necessity of this employment as much as my hon. and gallant Friend; but I cannot concur with him that it is destructive of discipline, although I shall be extremely glad when it ceases. AFRICA (SOUTH) CETEWAYO, EX- SIR WILFRID LAWSON asked the Under Secretary of State for the Colonies, Whether he is able to explain a statement made by Mr. W. E. Bok, State Secretary to the Transvaal, in a letter addressed to the British Resident in Pretoria, on January 16, 1882, that, as his Government desired to see a better state of things established in Zululand, and also to prevent bloodshed, "a call was made upon Her Majesty's Government to release the Zulu King Cetewayo;" and, if this statement be correct, whether he will inform the House what answer has been made to this message? MR. EVELYN ASHLEY: My hon. Friend will find a full explanation in the Papers which I have laid on the Table of the House relating to Cetewayo's detention. It is perfectly true |