§ Mr. WEDGWOODasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether a member of the British Embassy was allowed to be present at the trial of Dr. Kotoku and his wife in Tokio; whether such a person was actually present; and whether, in view of the importance of the maintenance of friendly relations and mutual respect between England and Japan, he will instruct His Majesty's representative to send home a full memorandum on this trial?
§ Mr. FELLOn a point of Order. May I ask you, Mr. Speaker, whether it is in order to put down questions referring to trials in a foreign State?
§ Mr. SPEAKERI do not see any objection. The point is whether a member of the British Embassy was present, and it seems to me a proper question.
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe Minister answering is not obliged to reply if he does not wish to do so.
The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. McKinnon Wood)The proceedings were, in accordance with the provisions of the Japanese criminal law on the point, conducted partially in private, but through the courtesy of the Japanese Government representatives of foreign Governments were permitted to be present. Mr. Rumbold, the Councillor of His Majesty's Embassy, and Mr. Hobart-Hampden, the Japanese Secretary, availed themselves of this permission, and in describing the proceedings, have specially remarked upon the dignified manner in which they were conducted, and the absolute fairness displayed towards the accused, who were properly and ably defended by most competent counsel. Neither Mr. Kotoku nor his confederate, Miss Suga Kanno, who was not his wife, was a British subject, and in these circumstances there appears to be no ground for calling for an official report on the matter, which has, moreover, been publicly dealt with in the English Press in Japan.
§ Mr. WEDGWOODMay I ask the hon. Gentleman whether Mr. Rumbold was present at all the sittings of the Court, or only when the judgment was delivered?
§ Mr. WEDGWOODWill you call for a report?
§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, whether he had received resolutions from public meetings and organisations protesting against the methods adopted at the trial of Dr. Kotoku and the twenty-six comrades, who were charged with being concerned in a plot for the assassination of the Emperor of Japan; whether he had communicated these to the Japanese Government; and whether he had received any response?
Mr. McKINNON WOODThe answer to the first paragraph is in the affirmative. As I have to-day informed the hon. Member for Newcastle-under-Lyme, Mr. Kotoku was not a British subject, neither were his twenty-six comrades. There is therefore no occasion for communicating these resolutions to the Japanese Government.
§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEMay I ask whether any harm will accrue to the Government 860 sending on those communications to the Japanese Government as indicating the state of public opinion in this country on the trial?