§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if the Naval Programme of this country has been communicated to any foreign countries in accordance with the intimation made at the Hague Conference.
§ SIR EDWARD GREYI presume the intimation to which the hon. Member alludes is a declaration made by the Senior British Plenipotentiary at the Fourth Plenary Meeting of the Hague Conference on 17th August. That declaration stated that His Majesty's Government would be prepared to communicate annually to Powers who would adopt the same course, what new ships of war they contemplated building, and the cost thereby entailed. It was based upon the assumption that in fact, if not in theory, the naval programmes of Great Powers are to some extent dependent upon each other. Until other Powers are ready to exchange information on this basis, there is no object in one Power communicating programmes in advance to another. But the offer of His Majesty's Government will hold good at any time.