§ MR. J. F. HOGAN (Tipperary, Mid)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has observed at page 5 of the recently published annual Report of Consul Leefe (No. 1954) on the trade of Tonga, that the British workman is described as being misled by self-interested agitators who make their living out of him; that strikes are declared to be the offspring of trade unions, and that the latter organisations are said to produce a tyranny which results in the honest hardworking man being placed on an equality with scamps and loafers; and, whether it is part of the recognised official duty of a British Consul to embody lily such private political speculations in such uncompromising language in his annual Report to the Foreign Office?
MR. CURZONI have not detected any private political speculations in the Report in question. On the contrary, the Vice-Consul who wrote it in pursuance of the duty imposed on him to point out any circumstances calculated to act prejudicially to British trade abroad, expressed what I have no doubt was an impartial and honest opinion. which he also supported by a local illustration. It is not proposed to discourage Consular officers from such an expression of their views.