§ 6. Mr. MACLEANasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the names of the States and cities in the United States which have defaulted in paying interest upon loans raised in Great Britain, the amounts, respectively, of those loans, the dates upon which interest ceased to he paid, and the date of the last occasion when the British Government raised the matter with the defaulting States and cities?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINThe hon. Member will find such details as are available in the Report of the Council of Foreign Bondholders for the year 1927. 2210 The matter has never, to the best of my knowledge, been raised officially by His Majesty's Government, and, as stated in the reply given by my right hon. Friend to the hon. and gallant Member for Chelmsford (Colonel Howard-Bury) on the 18th of April last, His Majesty's Government, after carefully considering the matter, are averse from making representations at present.
§ Mr. MACLEANWould the right hon. Gentleman inform the House whether the document to which he has referred me, issued by the Council of Foreign Bond Holders, is an official document of this House, and, if not, why he as Foreign Secretary cannot answer the question?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINI can only get the information from that document. I think that it is probably the best informed statement of the British case, but there are various estimates, and I do not want to make myself responsible for any one of them.
§ Mr. MACLEANWill the right hon. Gentleman get a copy and let me have it?
§ Captain GARRO-JONESWould it not be better either to let this matter drop or to make direct representations to the American Government? What is the use of going on pin-pricking in the matter as the right hon. Gentleman has done?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINThe hon. and gallant Gentleman has, perhaps, not noticed that I was not the questioner, but that I was merely replying to a question.