§ 5. Colonel Nathanasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether before or after the publication of the Report of the Royal Commission on Palestine and His Majesty's Government's statement of policy, and, if so, when, the report and/or statement of policy have been communicated to any and which foreign Governments; and whether any replies have been received and their purport?
§ Mr. EdenThe Report of the Royal Commission on Palestine, and the statement of policy of His Majesty's Govern- 2180 ment thereon, were, in accordance with customary practice, communicated to the diplomatic representatives of all foreign Governments represented in London at the same time as they were laid before Parliament. In the case of a few distant countries specially interested in the question, copies were also communicated to the Governments through His Majesty's diplomatic representatives in those countries. The communication of these documents did not call for any reply. Mr. Mander: Is the United States of America one of the countries to which the right hon. Gentleman referred in the last part of his reply?
§ Colonel NathanHave any replies been received?
§ Mr. EdenThe communications did not call for a reply. They were sent, as an act of courtesy, to the countries most interested in order to let them know the position before they read it in the newspapers.
§ 39. Colonel Nathanasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether any observations on the Report of the Royal Commission on Palestine have been received from the High Commissioner of Palestine; and, if so, what is the purport of such observations, and whether they were submitted at the invitation of the Colonial Office or on the initiative of the High Commissioner?
§ The Secretary of State for the Colonies (Mr. Ormsby-Gore)I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply which I gave to the right hon. and gallant Gentleman, the Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme (Colonel Wedgwood) on 19th July.