§ 29. Mr. COCKSasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he will publish the text of the correspondence which took place between July, 1915, and January, 1916, between Sir Henry McMahon, acting for His Majesty's Government, and the then Sherif Hussein, of Mecca, respecting the territorial claims of the Arab peoples, and the terms upon which they entered the War on the side of the Allies?
§ Dr. SHIELSNo, Sir. A similar question was put to the Government of the day on the 11th July, 1922. The reply given was that it would not be in the public interest to publish one or all of the documents comprising the long and inconclusive correspondence that took place with the Sherif of Mecca in 1915–16. The present Government see no reason to reconsider this decision.
§ Mr. COCKSDoes my hon. Friend think it in the public interest for this House to decide questions when the facts are being withheld by the Government? Will not the Colonial Office follow Use example of the Foreign Office and abandon the practice of secret diplomacy?
§ Mr. ORMSBY-GOREBefore the hon. Gentleman replies, is it not the case that this correspondence had nothing to do with the Colonial Office, but was conducted by the Foreign Office; that, as he says, the correspondence was inconclusive; that the Sherif of Mecca came into the War quite apart from anything that 1390 was contained in this correspondence, and that, therefore, it is not in the nature of a contract?
§ Dr. SHIELSI may say that I do not accept the aspersions on the Colonial Office made by my hon. Friend. In regard to the second point, some of this correspondence has already been published unofficially, and, after all, there must be some discretion given to a Government Department.
§ Mr. COCKSArising out of the hon. Gentleman's answer and the question put by the right hon. Member for Stafford (Mr. Ormsby-Gore), does not that question show the necessity of publishing the text of this correspondence?