§ 39. Lord H. CAVENDISH-BENTINCKasked the Prime Minister whether, in view of the desire expressed in the Canadian House of Commons on 12th April that the Canadian Government should discuss with the British Government the desirability of Canada accepting the optional clause of the statutes of the Permanent Court of International Justice, His Majesty's Government will take an early opportunity of initiating discussions with the Dominions on this subject, as contemplated by the resolutions of the last Imperial Conference?
§ The PRIME MINISTERMy information as to the proceedings in the Canadian House of Commons to which my Noble Friend refers is limited, so far, to a report which appeared in the Press in this country. I do not gather from this report that any motion on the subject 909 was passed in the Canadian House of Commons. His Majesty's Government in Great Britain have received no intimation from any of His Majesty's Governments in the Dominions that they have departed from the view recorded in the Summary of Proceedings of the Imperial Conference, 1926, that it was premature to accept the obligations under Article 36 of the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice. The conclusion of the Imperial Conference was that, should there be any change of view, the matter would be brought up for further discussion, and this would naturally he done by the Government which desired to initiate such discussion.