HC Deb 18 November 1946 vol 430 cc491-3
6. Mr. Lipson

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he has considered the petition sent to him by the hon. Member for Cheltenham, on behalf of a large number of his constituents of the Roman Catholic faith, asking him to take steps to secure the early release from prison of Archbishop Stepinac, of Zagreb; and what reply he has made thereto.

16. Mr. Michael Astor

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is now in a position to state the result of his inquiries from our ambassador regarding the recent trial of Archbishop Stepinac.

Mr. Gallacher

On a point of Order. I want to ask for your guidance, Mr. Speaker, in view of the fact that Question No. 6 appears on the Order Paper. If I put down a Question about Communists arrested in South Africa it will be refused at the Table on the ground that there is no Minister who is responsible for what is happening in South Africa. Would you tell me, Mr. Speaker, how it is I cannot get a Question accepted about a matter of this kind in South Africa, whereas a Question can be accepted concerning matters of this kind in Jugoslavia?

Mr. Speaker

A point of Order does not arise there, because the hon. Gentleman the Member for Cheltenham (Mr. Lipson) is asking what answer was given to a letter sent to the Minister.

Mr. Gallacher

Further to that point of Order. The Question submitted to the Minister in the letter is about affairs in Jugoslavia. If I write to the Minister about affairs in South Africa and try to put down a Question it will be refused at the Table on the ground that no Minister is responsible for what takes place in South Africa.

Mr. Speaker

That is another matter. If the hon. Member writes a letter to a Minister and does not get a reply, he may be entitled to put down a Question on that matter, provided it falls within the responsibility of the Minister concerned.

Mr. Mayhew

I am much obliged to the hon. Members, for having put these Questions down, and I should like to say that I have considered, among the many petitions forwarded to my right hon.

Friend and myself, that referred to by the hon. Member for Cheltenham (Mr. Lipson). The Yugoslav Government contend that this trial and sentence of a Yugoslav citizen is entirely a domestic matter, and His Majesty's Government, having considered the matter fully, find it impossible to dispute this contention. In these circumstances His Majesty's Government have no legal grounds for making official representations.

Mr. Lipson

In view of the fact that our relations with the Yugoslav Government are of a friendly nature, would it not be possible to make unofficial, friendly representations on the matter, with a view to expressing the very great concern of very large numbers of people in this country?

Mr. Mayhew

My answer does not necessarily mean that no further action will be taken, but we believe that official representations may well do more harm than good to the Archbishop.

Mr. Thomas Brown

May I ask the hon. Gentleman how many petitions he has already received, and the number of signatories to those petitions? Is he aware that there is grave disquiet throughout the country about this particular trial and the result of the trial? Will he make a statement on the matter?

Mr. Mayhew

I am afraid that I cannot give those figures without notice, but they are sufficiently large to make me well aware of the disquiet.

Mr. Eden

While I quite understand the hon. Gentleman's point of view about official representations, may I ask him to consider whether it would not be, at least, a friendly act to the Yugoslav Government to let them be made aware of what is clearly the feeling in many parts of this country?

Mr. Ronald Chamberlain

Will the hon. Gentleman bear in mind, and let it underline what is in his mind, that there are great numbers of people in this country other than Roman Catholics who are gravely concerned? It is not only the Roman Catholics who are concerned.

Mr. Skeffington-Lodge

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that, whatever may be the pros and cons in this distressing case, the severity of the sentence meted out to the Archbishop is really an affront to Christian opinion the world over?

Mr. Gallacher

If it had been a worker there would have been heard nothing about it.

Mr. Elwyn Jones

Will the hon. Gentleman, and the Secretary of State, bear in mind that this gentleman is considered by the Yugoslav Government to be a traitorous collaborator, and, in view of that, will he underline the danger of interfering in a matter of that kind with the Yugoslav Government?