TREATIES OF PEACE (AUSTRIA AND BULGARIA) [EXPENSES]. (Hansard, 19 April 1920)

§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY
Before we pass this Resolution, might I put it to the representative of the Foreign Office that it is extremely desirable that, in the case of Austria, the personnel of the Commissions which are being sent to carry out the different articles of the Treaty enumerated in the Roneo sheets, which is the only copy available, should be kept as low as possible. The need for this has been well exemplified in the course of the discussion on the Budget. 152 After what we have heard of the crushing weight which is going to be levied on individuals and enterprises, on beer, cigars, and every taxable source, it is necessary that we should try to economise as much as possible. Another reason is that the unfortunate Austrians, whom we are now feeding to the extent of £1,000,000 per month, with the Austrian kronen almost out of sight, are not in a position to pay for unnecessary officials to carry out the Treaty. I do not think the number of Commissions is excessive. The Reparation Commission appointed to squeeze the last penny out of Austria has now become a Relief Mission. I do not suggest there is any danger of that Committee being over-staffed. It consists mainly of civil servants, and at their head is Sir William Goode, who carries the confidence of this House. I refer more to the naval, military and air force missions.
May I give one example in the case of the Austrian Navy? I understand that five Admirals are being sent to disarm the Austrian Navy. You have a General sent to see the aircraft demobilised, another to see the artillery finally destroyed, another to deal with the Navy and so on, and on all these Commissions you have a high British officer, a Frenchman, an Italian, a Serb, a Roumanian, and probably a Czech as well. These Committees are not duplicated, but they are sextuplicated and multiplied many times. These officials occupy the best hotels, and they see that they have the comforts appropriate to their high rank, while the unfortunate Austrian people who are past bankruptcy have to pay the bill, and this is bound to have a bad effect. Therefore, I desire that we should not have any excess of officers on these missions, and I think they should not be looked upon more as refuges for officers who would otherwise be doing less congenial work, or would be demobilised and placed on half-pay.
I am glad to see the hon. Member for North-West Hull (Colonel Lambert Ward) in his place, because he raised this question from personal observation in Vienna. I take this opportunity of putting it to the Under Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs that we should, in our own interests and in the interests of the Austrian people in their dire state of need, keep the numbers on these Com- 153 missions to the lowest limit. I would suggest that instead of a British, Italian, French, and a Serbian high officer on each separate mission, that, for example, the British should take over the wireless and the naval part, and I do not know why five admirals are required. The French might look after the artillery and aircraft, and the Italian some other service, and if it is necessary to employ a lot of other officers they should be junior officers. I do not think it is necessary to have high officials on each separate Commission. I do not know whether what I suggest is practical or not, or whether our Allies will insist upon their full pound of flesh. From what I have heard from hon. Members of this House and others who have had personal experience, there is a danger of these missions being over-staffed, and it would be a saving to us if their numbers were kept down as much as possible.

The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Harms-worth)
My hon. and gallant Friend has raised a question that is rather outside the range of my particular Department. I entirely agree with him that these missions in connection with the Peace Treaties should be kept as small as possible, although I submit that it is not within the competence of my Department, or indeed of His Majesty's Government, to make those arrangements between the Allies which he suggests. I do not think that it would be within the province of His Majesty's Government to suggest to the different Allies that the business should be allocated in the way which he has described. I am, however, fully in agreement that the mission should be kept as small and as inexpensive as possible, especially in the case of Austria. The situation of Austria is one which commands the universal sympathy of this House and the country as well as of the Government. I think there was some exaggeration in the account which my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for North-West Hull (Colonel L. Ward) in regard to the high life in Vienna. I have been at pains to make particular inquiries into that matter, and I think that my hon. and gallant Friend has been very largely misinformed.

§ Colonel WEDGWOOD
It was low life.

Mr. HARMSWORTH
That was also suggested, and there again I am in a 154 position to assure the House that there is very little, if anything, in the charges which he made.

Colonel LAMBERT WARD
I do not know if the hon. Member is referring to me, but I did not make any suggestions of that kind against the mission. I never had any intention of insinuating any such thing, and I do resent the hon. Gentleman attributing the suggestion to me.

§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHY
I only said that the hon. and gallant Member complained of the amount of khaki in these missions, and I remember that Mr. Speaker pulled him up for being out of order in discussing on that Vote the employment of military officers. He made no allegations, nor do I, against the conduct of these officers. He only complained of the number of them, of their high rank, and of the consequent expense.

Mr. HARMSWORTH
It is my misapprehension, and I entirely withdraw any suggestion that my hon. and gallant Friend made any charge of the kind. As far as the Foreign Office are concerned, we have very few, and only essential people, on these missions, and I can say with some confidence that is also true of the Naval and Military Departments, though, so far as they are concerned, I am not in a position to speak with full responsibility.

§ Colonel WEDGWOOD
As one who has recently been in Vienna, I should like to ask whether this charge falls upon the British taxpayer, or whether, nominally, it falls upon the Austrian Government, because, while our own mission there is reasonable in size, and is not so much over-staffed as the other missions, yet the impression that I got when I was there from all the people who spoke to me was that other missions were using their positions in Vienna largely to get ordinary commercial business, and that they were thoroughly misusing their position. It is extremely undesirable, not only that the British people should engage in ordinary trading concerns in Austria, but that we should countenance in any way the use by our Allies of their position in Vienna for the carrying on of trade and business, the getting of concessions, the purchasing of furniture, and all the iniquitous transactions that are going on there at the pre- 155 sent time. You have there an exchange where 800 krones go to the £l, as against 25 krones before the War. Consequently, everything can be bought up cheap, and, while the British Mission has in that country a very good name, on account of its abstention from these practices, I do think it advisable that we should issue a word of warning to those other countries that in misusing their position they are doing ill service, not only to their own country, but to the cause of the Allies as a whole.

Mr. HARMSWORTH
In regard to my hon. and gallant Friend's first question, I am in a position to tell him that as regards the Boundary and Plebiscite Commissions, the Allied Commission of Control, and the Reparation Commission, the expenses are ultimately recoverable from the interested States. With regard to the Mixed Arbitral Tribunal, the International Commission of the Danube and other missions, the bulk of the charge falls upon the British Government. I have not myself heard, and I do not think that my hon. and gallant Friend suggested, that any charge has been made that our British Commissioners in Vienna do engage in any kind of trade, either on their own behalf or on behalf of the Government. I have not heard of that, but, if my hon. and gallant Friend has any information, and he will bring it to my notice—

§ Colonel WEDGWOOD
I specifically denied it, and said that the British Mission is the only one that does not do so.

Mr. HARMSWORTH
As to the suggestion that we should make hints to foreign missions, I am afraid that I must ask my hon. and gallant Friend to excuse the Government. I do not think that falls within the province of His Majesty's Government.