§ 1. Sir ROBERT THOMASasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs with regard to the resolution unanimously adopted by the sixth assembly of the League, inviting members and non-member States to transmit to the secretariat documents relating to the international traffic in arms whether the British Government has hitherto acted in accordance with this resolution; and, if not, will he take steps to rectify this omission?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Sir Austen Chamberlain)The resolution of the Assembly recommends that the statistics should be furnished in the form of the models embodied in an annex to the Arms Traffic Convention of 1925. The adoption of the recommendation would involve a change of system in the preparation of the statistics, entailing considerable administrative inconvenience and expense, which His Majesty's Government do not feel justified in incurring until the entry into force of the convention. The returns published under the existing practice contain much detail, and should, in the meantime, prove adequate for the purpose in view.