§ 47. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Prime Minister if his attention has been drawn to the appeal made to the League of Nations, in a memorandum of December, 1921, by the leaders of all political parties in the Saar Valley, with the exception of the Communists, against the harsh treatment and injustices suffered by the civil population under the régime in force in the Saar; whether there is any British representative on the Government Commission in the Saar; if so, who is he; what are his instructions with regard to the treatment of the civil population; whether he has made any representations to His Majesty's Government on the conditions prevailing in the Saar basin; and whether His Majesty's Government are taking any steps to see 1046 that the terms of the Treaty of Versailles are carried out where they establish safeguards for the civil population of the Saar?
Mr. HARMSWORTHThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The answer to the second part of the question is in the negative. The members of the Governing Commission are, in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles (Annex to Section 4, Articles 16 and 17), chosen by the Council of the League of Nations, from which body they receive their instructions and to which they report. They are not national representatives. One of them is a Canadian, Mr. Waugh by name. He is neither responsible to nor in official communication with His Majesty's Government. The duty of seeing that the terms of the Treaty of Versailles are carried out rests on the League of Nations, in which His Majesty's Government are represented.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYIs His Majesty's Government approaching the League of Nations asking for information on the subject?
Mr. HARMSWORTHNo. When I was at Geneva I met a deputation from the Saar Valley and came to the conclusion that the charges against the administration had no foundation whatever.
§ Lord ROBERT CECILWill the hon. Gentleman consider whether some modification in the direction of a greater representation of the inhabitants of the Saar on the Governing Commission might be desirable?