49. Captain TUDOR-REESasked the Prime Minister whether the provisions of the Hague Convention are still operative?
Mr. HARMSWORTHI am not aware to which of the thirteen Conventions signed at the Hague in 1907 the question particularly refers, but, speaking generally, it was the intention that these Conventions should remain in force for the States which have ratified them until denounced or replaced by further Conventions. It is, however, the fact that experience has shown that the Conventions dealing with the conduct of hostilities are liable to be disregarded by an unscrupulous belligerent, and that some of them are no longer adapted to the conditions of modern warfare. This fact must obviously be taken into consideration when the attitude of His Majesty's Government to these Conventions has to be reviewed.