§ MR. MITCHELL-THOMSON (Lanark, N.W.)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, under the new Alien Law of the Republic of Honduras, British subjects who may be regarded by the laws of Honduras as domiciled there are liable to be called on to serve as armed police in the event of the invasion of Honduras by any hostile force; and whether His Majesty's Government have assented to this proposition.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYArticle 44 of the new Alien Law exempts foreigners from military service, but states that domiciled foreigners are obliged to serve as armed police, for the security of their property and the maintenance of order in the town where they are residing. The full text of the Law will be found in Parliamentary Paper, Miscellaneous, No. 1 of 1907. This is merely a measure for the preservation of domestic law and order, and in view of the exemption of foreigners from military service could not be applied to resist invasion by a hostile force.
§ SIR GILBERT PARKER (Gravesend)May I ask if British subjects can only 766 be employed in this way in the case of special trouble or riot?
§ SIR EDWARD GREYI have given the actual words. There can be no doubt as to their meaning.