Lord Plymouth, an Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, replying on behalf of the Government, said that Lord Elibank had asked what the! results of previous deliberations had been, and had alluded to certain matters in respect of which he maintained, "I think perfectly rightly," that British interests were receiving unfair treatment at the hands of the Japanese Government.
"I am unable to report any satisfactory progress," Lord Plymouth declared, "but I should like to inform the House of the position with regard to these particular matters.
"Firstly, the position at Tsingtao is still most. unsatisfactory.
"The restrictions imposed on shipping there constitute, in the eyes of the British Government, deliberate discrimination against British interests, and the Government consider that there is no valid reason whatever why British ships should not be admitted to the inner harbour.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.