asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to a Report issued, more than a year ago, by M. Dupuis, of the Irrigation Department in Egypt, in which attention is drawn to the vital importance of securing the safety of the waters of the White Nile for the purpose of Sudanese cotton production; whether the British Government has been negotiating with the Abyssinian Government for certain concessions on behalf of British interests for the control of the waters of Lake Tana where the White Nile rises; and if he is able to state what are the results of these negotiations?

The answer to the first and second parts of the question is in the affirmative; the answer to the last part is in the negative. I assume that by a slip the hon. Member refers to the Blue and not the White Nile.