§ 63. Mr. RENNIE SMITHasked the Secretary of State for War if he can furnish particulars of the circumstances in which the burgomeister of Königstein in the Rhineland, procured a bandmaster to play the German national anthem without asking leave to do so and was sentenced by the British summary court at Weisbaden to a fine of 100 marks or, in the alternative, to a fortnight's imprisonment?
§ The FINANCIAL SECRETARY to the WAR OFFICE (Mr. Duff Cooper)I 1216 have received no official report on this case, but I am making inquiry and will let the hon. Member know the result.
§ Mr. SMITHIs it the British law in the occupied Rhineland that bands and individuals are prohibited from playing or singing their own national anthem?
§ Mr. COOPERIt is not the British law, but it is a regulation, where British soldiers are present and where the playing of the German national anthem or similar tunes might lead to disturbances.
§ Mr. COOPERThat is a question of music and not of politics.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYHave any British soldiers in fact objected to these tunes?
§ Mr. COOPERI have no information on that point.