§ 33. Lord ROBERT CECILasked the Prime Minister what was the nature and effect of the representations made by the secretariat of the League of Nations which induced the Government to withhold from publication the Report of Sir Stuart Samuel; when were those representations made; and whether after the Report had been communicated to it?
§ The PRIME MINISTERThe matter was discussed informally with the Secretary-General of the League of Nations at the end of April, and Sir Eric Drummond then expressed the view that the Report should not be published until the League had considered it, since the actual investigation of the Jewish position in Poland lay strictly within the province of the League as custodians of the Minority Clauses of the Treaty. His Majesty's Government accepted this view at the time and proposed to act in accordance with it, but in view of the great interest expressed in the Report, both in this House and outside, and of the fact that the League of Nations cannot at the earliest consider the Report until the end of July, they have now decided that its publication should not be further delayed, and it will therefore be laid on the Table without delay.
Sir F. HALLMay I ask if there can be any value in the League of Nations if they do not succeed in getting such a large country as the United States into it?