§ 19. Lieut.-Colonel HENEAGEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will request His Majesty's Minister in Budapest to obtain from the Hungarian Government the specific reasons why Hungary, subject to the arrangement of the 13th December, 1930, has refused to ratify the unsecured pre-war debt agreement of 31st October, 1930; and will he also request His Majesty's Minister, in the interests of British subjects who before the War entrusted their savings to the Hungarian Government, to press the Hungarian Government to ratify the agreement of October, 1930?
§ Mr. DALTONMy right hon. Friend is informed that the grounds on which the Hungarian Government have hitherto refused to ratify the agreement of the 31st of October are two-fold: first, an objection to the increased payments provided for in the agreement, secondly, the existing economic crisis which makes it impossible to forecast the financial position of Hungary. In reply to the second part of the question, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply given by 1415 me to the hon. Member for Macclesfield (Mr. Remer) on the 26th of January, in which I explained that an additional agreement has been signed by all the interested States on the 13th of December last, under which full payments will be made up to the 1st of January, 1936. This agreement has now been ratified by Hungary, and there seems, therefore, to be no immediate need for representations by His Majesty's Minister at Budapest. But my right hon. Friend will keep a careful watch on future developments.