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-parliament in tief. ................-.........-"

FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 19TH.

. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22ND.

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MONDAY, FEBRUARY 22ND. HOUSE OF COMMONS. Sir M. White Ridley, answering Mr. Herbert Ro berts, said the cost of the Welsh Land Com- mission had already been extremely heavy, and any proposal involving additional expenditure would have to be carefully considered. He was in communication, however, with the Chairman of the Cnmmission as to the nature and bulk of the extracts which the Commission thought might with advantage be translated into Welsh, and when he had obtained the information he would communicate again with the Treasury. In reply to Mr. Schwann, Sir M. Hicks Beach said that with ordinary care any error in taking farthings for half sovereigns might be avoided, and no change in the coins was at present in contemplation. Mr. Chamberlain informed Sir E. A. Bartlett and Mr. Roche that he had no further informa- tion to give with regard to the claim made by the Transvaal Government on account of the Jameson raid. In reply to Mr. Stevenson, Mr. Curzon said the proclamation issued by Colonel Vassos, the commander of the Greek forces in Crete, pro- mised, among other things, peace to the inhabi- tants of the island. So far, however, the pre- sence of the Greek troops would seem to have the opposite effect, and in these circumstances the Government thought it unlikely that the Powers would consider the desirability of delegating to the Greek force the duty of keep- ing the peace between the Christian and Moslem inhabitants. Sir M. White Ridley, in answer to Mr. J. Bailey, said the rule of the Home Office for many years past had been not to offer rewards in murder cases, and he saw no reason for de- parting from that course in the case of the murder of Miss Camp. Mr. A. J. Balfour stated, in reply to Mr. J. Redmond an A Mr. Dillon, that the Committee stage of the Education Bill would begin on Thursday^ It would be inconvenient that that stage should be interrupted by other business, but as soon as that was concluded he would be glad to find time for the discussion of the ques- tion of financial relations. No steps would be taken with regard to the appointment of the new Financial Relations Commission until after the discussion of the subject by the House. Mr. Leigh-Bennett took hill seat for the Chertsey division, and a new writ was ordered for the election of a member for Halifax, in the place of Mr. Rawson Shaw. Mr. Curzon, answering Mr. Dillon, said in- quiry had been made into the allegation that Christians had been roasted alive in a bakery at Ca-nea, but no foundation could be found for the story. Asked by Mr. Bryce whether there was any truth in the statement that the Cretan forces had been fired upon by the united Powers, Mr. Curzon said the insurgents outside Canea, in spite of the injunctions of the admirals, who under the orders of their respective Govern- ments had made themselves responsible for the peace of Canea, renewed their attaek on the town. Under these circumstances the inter- national squadron had no choice but to prevent by force these proceedings being continued, which they accordingly did. The firing lasted but a few minutes. Mr. Labouchere asked for and obtairiedleave to move the adjournment of the House in order to call attention to the firing on Greek forces in Crete by Her Majesty's ships.' It was time, Mr. Labourchere said, that the Liberal party should speak out on this subject. They believed that the people of England, rightly or wrongly, were determined that we were not to interfere, either diplomatically or still less by force of arms, in favour of the Turks ia any part of the Turkish Empire. Mr. Dillon seconded the motion. Mr. Balfour maintained that there was dan- ger of a great European catastrophe unless the greatest cautiou was exercised in dealing with this Cretan question. There had been a sacri- fice of life and property in Crete, but if a care- ful inquiry was made as to who was responsible he thought it would not be found that the in- ternational forces had been either idle or ineffective, or that the operations of the Greek forces had been marked by success in those directions. The Government were acting in absolute harnsony with the other Great Powers. They recognised perfectly clearly that to leave Crete in the condition in which it would rest with the Turkish Government to upset by its own will the good work Europe had en- deavoured to accomplish would be to fall far short ef the international duties they had taken upon themselves. Sir W. Harcourt said the time had come when upon this question in Europe the voice of Eng- j land ought to be heard. What, he asked, was the object of the Government in going to Crete? What were the bombs fired for from the British fleet? By what right or title, or from what point of view, were the Government taking part in this insurrection ? They were told that the Great Powers had taken the matter up, but the Great Powers had been taking these mat- ters up for a long time, and nothing had been done. We were waiting on the Concert of Europe to determine on the future of Crete, and in the meantime we were bombarding the in- surgents. That was not a condition of things that ought to be allowed to continue. If the Concert of Europe could not come to a con- clusion on the subject of the treatment of Crete, we ought not to have taken the part that, unfor- tunately, we had done for the past two days. He gathered from Mr. Balfour's statement that what the Government were proceeding to do was to detach Crete from the Turkish rule, and that was the only policy which was worthy of the English Government. After some further debate, in which Sir R. Reid and Mr. Goschen took part, the motion was negatived by 243 votes to 125. The Military Works (Money) Bill was after- wards discussed in Committee.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.

L LANRWST.

lit RURAL DISTRICT COUNCIL.

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THE PENRHYN DISPUTE.