VISCOUNT TEMPLETOWNMy Lords, to place myself in order I understand it is necessary that I should read to your Lordships the Motion which stands in my name on the Paper. It is: "To call the attention of His Majesty's Government to the fact that the claims of the Basle Trading Company with reference to 858 the restoration to them of their property in India which was confiscated in May, 1919, have not yet been settled; and to move for Papers." When I was about to come here to-day I was prepared to put before your Lordships the case which I think would have appealed to you on the bare ground of justice—that justice should be done to the Basle Trading Company in respect of their property in India as it has been done in reference to the Gold Coast.
I find myself, however, in this difficulty. Thanks to the courtesy of the noble Lord who I believe proposes to reply, I am in this position—that so far as my Motion can be considered a question (I hardly put it at that myself) I have the question answered before I have asked it. That surely is an impossible position to deal with. I, therefore, have to ask myself: Shall I say what I was going to say? And I say "No" to myself for this reason: if the answer has already been settled then. my question, if it is a question, will be out of court for the time being. So, with your Lordships' permission, I propose to withdraw my Motion and to leave my hands free to deal with this question again as soon as circumstances permit. That is my position and I do not know how else to deal with it. I am perfectly certain that I have a case in regard to which I should ask that justice should be done by the India Office to the Basle Trading Company. If the question has already been decided, as I presume to a certain extent it must have been, because the answer apparently is ready, I beg the leave of the House that I may have my hands free to deal with it as soon as the position becomes more convenient for it to be dealt with. I cannot put it higher than that. I know what to say if I were going to say what I wanted to say but, when the question, as I have said, has been answered before I have asked it, I must ask your Lordships' kind permission not to proceed with the Motion so that my hands may be free to deal with the matter on another occasion in the way in which I propose to deal with it.