§ VISCOUNT GREY OF FALLODONMy Lords, I should like to ask the noble Marquess the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can tell your Lordships if he expects to be in a position to make any statement before the House rises about the negotiations proceeding with the Allies respecting the occupation of the Ruhr and kindred matters.
§ THE SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS CURZON OF KEDLESTON)My Lords, I wish I were in a position to give a more definite reply to the question put to me by the noble Viscount who leads the Opposition. The case is as follows: I have not as yet received the replies either of the French or the Belgian Governments to the Note which we addressed to them. Indeed, I am leaving here at an early stage of this afternoon's proceedings in order to meet the Ambassadors and to receive at their hands such communications as they may be disposed to make to me. Whether that will enable us to make any statement in the course of the week, it is a little premature to say. Certainly we have no desire to keep Parliament or the country in the dark as to what is happening; but the noble Viscount will know very well from his own experience the extreme risk of promising a statement about matters where you are not at the moment in possession of the views of those with whom you are dealing. Therefore I should like to leave the case as follows: I believe that Parliament adjourns on Thursday and that there will be a formal sitting of this House on that day. How many of your Lordships will be able to attend, or whether the noble Viscount will be able to attend, I, of course, do not know. If it is in my power to make a statement on the Motion for the adjournment of the House I will certainly do so; but I should not like to give a definite promise for the reasons that I have named.