§ 65. Miss LAWRENCEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give the date on which M. Kamanev made the speech alluded to in the Note and a, reference to any Rus- 1213 sian newspaper; whether the only authority, when compiling the Note, possessed by the Foreign Office was a report from Riga in the "Times" of 15th December, reproduced verbatim and extenso in the Note; and, if so, whether he will take steps to ensure that in future, where important diplomatic communications are concerned, care shall be taken to consult authoritative reports?
Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONThe exact date of the speech is not known to me. It was commented upon in the foreign Press as well as by the "Times," and the Soviet Government have not denied the accuracy of the allusion in our Note. The text of the "Times" report was not reproduced in the Note, as the hon. Lady supposes. The Note merely stated that M. Kamanev was recently reported as using the language attributed to him.
§ Miss LAWRENCEIs it the case that the Soviet Government did not discuss the authenticity of Mr. Kameneff's speech, but merely said that it was no concern of the Government?
§ Miss LAWRENCEWill the Minister be so kind as to answer the latter part of the question, whether in future when important diplomatic documents are concerned, original and not third-hand reports will be consulted?
Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONIf the hon. Member means by authoritative reports the Russian report, I would say that it is very often the case that these Russian reports are very heavily censored, and it does not necessarily mean that because the report comes from Russia you are getting a really accurate or complete report.
§ Miss LAWRENCEThe under-Secretary does not understand what I mean. What I want him to do is to disclaim in future news from Russia, from "Our Riga correspondent" and to consult Russian papers instead.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYAre we to understand that the very important Note to Russia was partly based on foreign newspapers' reports of the speech?
Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONThis speech was reported, and it appeared in the foreign Press. It appeared not only in our own Press, but in the Italian and other Press.