§ 17. Mr. AYLESasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he can make a statement upon the policy of the Government at the forthcoming General Disarmament Conference in relation to the question of giving guarantees of military assistance to nations that are attacked in return for a general measure of disarmament?
§ Mr. DALTONMy hon. Friend will not expect me to forecast at this distance of 590 time the exact policy which His Majesty's Government may adopt at the Conference. This country is, of course, bound by certain obligations under the Covenant of the League, and I need hardly add that His Majesty's Government have not the slightest intention of evading them.
§ Mr. AYLESCan my hon. Friend say, whether, when the representative of His Majesty's Government at Geneva at the Preparatory Commission on Disarmament—Lord Cecil—stated at the end of December that at the next Conference we may have to give guarantees of this character in order to secure general disarmament, he was speaking on behalf of the Government or on behalf of himself
§ Mr. DALTONI do not recall any such statement by Lord Cecil at the Preparatory Commission.
§ Mr. DALTONBut the answer to the question on the Paper is as I have given it.