§ Mr. NOEL BUXTONasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether a Bill has been introduced into the Dutch House of Parliament for the expropriation of certain concessionaire companies of Java, run largely by forced labour; whether such Bill has yet been passed; and whether one of its effects will be the expropriation of the British company, known as the Anglo-Dutch Plantation Company of Java?
Mr. McKINNON WOODA Bill has been passed into law by the States-General empowering the Government to proceed to expropriation, failing purchase by private treaty, of such private lands in Java as it may be considered in the public interest to restore to the State domain. I have no information as to the intention of the Netherlands Government to apply the law to the property of any particular owners.