§ 11. Mr. AYLESasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the conditions of 20th November, 1919, on which the Supreme Council recognised Hungary, were not broken by an Act of Parliament elected according to those conditions, but by decree and without its consent; that that violation was published as Ministerial Order No. 2200, 1922, in the official Gazette of 3rd March, 1922, and that that decree disfranchised nearly one million people who had been guaranteed enfranchisement in a country whose total population is under eight millions; and, considering that there was open terrorism at the elections of April, 1922, conducted under that decree when the present Parliament was elected, and that that decree only applies during the life of the present National Assembly, will he use his influence in the League of Nations to see that adequate guarantees to carry out the original conditions are given before the suggested loan is granted, in order that a truly substantial and national guarantee may be given to the subscribers?
§ Mr. PONSONBYI regret that in the reply given on the 20th instant to a similar question standing in the name of the hon. Member it was erroneously stated that legislation restricting the franchise was passed by the Hungarian Parliament. A Franchise Bill was, in 441 fact, introduced on 11th February, 1922, but failed to pass into law, the mandate of the National Assembly expiring only six days later. A Government Decree was published in the official Gazette of 2nd March, in which the provisions of the Bill, with certain modifications to meet the proposals of the Opposition, were embodied. As regards the second part of his question, I would refer my hon. Friend to my reply of the 20th instant and also to the answer I gave to his supplementary question