§ 6. Mr. JOWETTasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is willing to state the reason why the British White Paper was not laid before Parliament on Monday, 3rd August, 1914, instead of being delayed until Thursday, the 6th of August, when war had been declared by Great Britain upon Germany?
§ Sir E. GREYThe hon. Member probably does not realise the amount of labour involved in preparing for presentation to Parliament a mass of correspondence with foreign Governments. The White Paper, Miscellaneous, No. 6 (1914), (Cd. 7467), was laid before Parliament on Wednesday, 5th August, and copies were delivered to the Vote Office that night. The correspondence respecting the negotiations right up to the outbreak of war was thus available to the House within 24 hours of that event. In view of the great pressure of work existing at the time, I do not think that any unreasonable delay can be held to have occurred; I do not suppose so large a collection of important Papers was ever sent to the printer and published in so short a time before.