§ 58. Captain GARRO-JONESasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what treaties are now in force involving this country in military commitments?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Godfrey Locker-Lampson)As I stated in reply to the hon. Member for Wimbledon (Sir J. Power) on the 30th of November last, as well as on previous occasions, all the international commitments of Great 815 Britain have already been published and if any new ones are incurred they will likewise be laid before the House.
§ Captain GARRO-JONESCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether there is a treaty in force with Portugal which involves this country in military commitments?
§ Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONI have got a list of the references in my pocket to the various State papers in which these treaties occur, and I will send the hon. and gallant Gentleman a copy.
§ Captain GARRO-JONESThe point I would like to get at is this. If it was necessary to refer to certain of our obligations in our reply to the United States Government, why was this other obligation ignored?
§ Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONI have already said that it is quite contrary to practice to elaborate or comment upon a Note which is still under consideration by the Government to which it was sent.
§ Captain GARRO-JONESWith great respect, I do not see that I am getting an answer to the question I wish to put. In the reply to the United States Government, we referred to certain commitments which we had which prevented us from accepting their proposals to the full. Why do we not refer to the other commitments to which the right hon. Gentleman has just referred, and, if we can ignore some of those commitments, why cannot we ignore them all and accept the proposals of America?
§ Mr. SPEAKERThe hon. and gallant Gentleman had better put that question down on the Paper.