HC Deb 30 November 1911 vol 32 cc563-4
Mr. KING

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can lay upon the Table all the dispatches issued from, and received at, the Foreign Office during last July relative to the Morocco question?

Sir E. GREY

It is not proposed to take any decision as to laying any papers about Morocco while the discussions in the French and German Parliaments are proceeding, or till the French and German Governments have decided to publish papers.

Mr. KING

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to a map published in London on 20th July last, purporting to show the regions in the Congo basin demanded by Germany from France in the course of the Morocco conversations; and whether the Foreign Office furnished to the publisher or any other person the information on which this map was drawn?

Sir E. GREY

I saw the map at the time when it was published in July. The answer to the last question is in the negative. Neither that nor any other information about the Franco-German negotiations at the time became public through the Foreign Office.

Mr. KING

Did any communication pass between the Foreign Office and the publisher of this map relative to the publication?

Sir E. GREY

No communication whatever passed beforehand, and I am not aware that any passed afterwards.

Mr. WEDGWOOD

Is it not a fact that at the time this map was published Germany was offering Togoland to France in exchange, and that that part of the bargain was not mentioned?

Sir E. GREY

I cannot make any more statements about the Franco-German negotiations than have already become public.