§ 38. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can make any further statement concerning the Sino-Russian dispute over the Eastern Chinese Rail way; if he is aware that the present conditions in Northern Manchuria are hampering trade in that region; and whether His Majesty's Government, or the governments of other friendly Powers, propose taking any further steps to end the dispute peaceably?
Mr. A. HENDERSONThe situation is still at a deadlock. Frontier raids have continued; and no reports have reached me of any progress being made either in the negotiations which have been going on in Berlin under the auspices of the German Government, or in the direct negotiations between the Manchurian authorities and the Soviet Union. The Chinese Minister for Foreign Affairs has informed the representative of His 1520 Majesty's Minister at Nanking that his Government did not intend to appeal to the League of Nations until the Soviets declared war or seriously invaded Chinese territory. I am aware of the disturbance to commerce occasioned by the interruption of traffic on the Chinese Eastern Railway; but I do not consider that any intervention by His Majesty's Government would be advisable in existing circumstances. Apart from the efforts which are still being made by the German Government to act as friendly intermediary, no other Government, so far as I know, proposes to intervene.