§ 34. Mr. TREVELYANasked the Under-Secretary of State far Foreign Affairs whether in the discussion at the Council of the League of Nations not only the president of the Saar Commission, but any dissenting member of the Commission or representative of the population of the Saar will be heard?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Ronald McNeill)This is a matter for the Council to decide, and I can give the hon. Member no undertaking as to the persons whom it may desire to consult.
§ Captain WEDGWOOD BENNWhat instructions will be given to the British representative? Surely that is a matter for this House?
§ Mr. McNEILLAbout what?
§ Captain BENNAbout summoning representatives of the Saar inhabitants before this inquiry.
§ Mr. McNEILLI do not believe any instructions could be given on that point. I think the British representative, on a matter of that kind, would use his own discretion.
§ Mr. CHARLES BUXTONMay we understand that an inquiry still has to take place, and that it has not yet taken place?
§ Mr. McNEILLAs far as I know, I think the inquiry has, in point of fact, taken place.
§ Mr. BUXTONArising out of that very important statement, may I ask whether the hon. Gentleman considers that the inquiry to which some allusion has been made in the newspapers can possibly be described as a judicial inquiry, when one side has been heard and the other has not?
§ Mr. McNEILLI cannot pronounce judgment on that point. His Majesty's Government has a representative upon the Council, but he is not receiving instructions as to every word he should speak and every Vote he should give.
§ Mr. PRINGLEHas not the Council of the League of Nations actually come to a decision in regard to this matter?
§ Mr. McNEILLI think I have seen that in the Press, but I have no other source of information about it.
§ 35. Mr. TREVELYANasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in the event of disagreement as to the interpretation of any relevant article of the Treaty of Versailles or of the Saar Annexes to the said Treaty, the British representative will urge that the matter be referred to the permanent Court of International Justice?
§ Mr. McNEILLI cannot undertake to answer hypothetical questions.
§ Mr. WALLHEADHave the French Government undertaken to demolish in the Saar district the barracks they built against the sense of the Versailles Treaty?
§ Mr. McNEILLI cannot say without notice.
§ 60. Mr. BUXTONalso asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the Council of the League of Nations proposes that an inquiry shall be held into the administration of the Saar basin by the Governing Commission; if so, at what date it will be held; who are the persons appointed to conduct the inquiry; whether they will proceed to the 913 Saar basin itself; what witnesses they will examine; and whether they will inquire into the suppression of the German currency, into the presence of French troops in the district, into the new ordinance with regard to the Press and public meetings; and into the wages paid to the miners which are alleged to have been the cause of the recent unrest?
§ Mr. McNEILLI must ask the hon. Member to await the decision of the League. The House will recognise that it is difficult, and, indeed, undesirable, for His Majesty's Ministers to deal by question and answer here with matters that are not in their hands, but in those of the League.