§ MR. MALCOLM (Suffolk, Stow-market)I beg to ask the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Sir Horace Rumbold, lately His Majesty's Ambassador at Vienna, and now in receipt of a pension out of public moneys, had the sanction of His Majesty's Government in publishing a volume of reminiscences containing private conversations and other matters relating to countries to which he was accredited.
§ THE UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE Fort FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord CRANBORNE,) RochesterNo application was made by Sir Horace Rumbold for the sanction of His Majesty's Government. But in cases where the reminiscences are not of recent date, and are confined to personal incidents and matters of public notoriety, such sanction has not apparently been considered essential. Any such publication by a former representative of this country without the leave of the Secretary of State, would, if it related to recent events which have come under the writer's notice in the course of his official duties, be most reprehensible, and His Majesty's Government are considering whether it will not be advisable to take steps in order to leave no room for doubt as to the manner in which they regard the subject.