54. and 55. Captain BENNasked the Secretary of State fur Foreign Affairs(1) whether it is proposed to submit the Five-Power Pact for examination to the Council of the League of Nations before its final adoption and whether the pact will be registered and published in accordance with Article 18 of the Covenant;
(2) whether the Five-Power Pact will provide that the guarantee obligations involved in it will only come into force when there has been a decision by the Council of the League, or by some other impartial League of Nations body, as to which party to any hostilities that might occur had been guilty of aggression?
The SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS(Mr.AustenChamberlain)I t is, of course, the intention of His Majesty's Government in this case as in other cases to abide strictly by the provisions of Article 18 of the Covenant of the League of Nations. To the other points which he raises, however, it would clearly be premature for me to attempt to reply at present, for reasons similar to those which I gave in answer to a question by the hon. Member for Keighley on the 1st April.