HC Deb 30 July 1931 vol 255 cc2469-70
88. Major-General Sir ALFRED KNOX

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to a petition addressed to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations by Russian refugee organisations throughout the world asking for an inquiry into the question of compulsory labour in Soviet Russia; and whether he will support this petition?

Mr. CHARLES EDWARDS (Lord of the Treasury)

My right hon. Friend has seen a reference in the Press to a letter addressed to the Secretary-General on this subject. As regards the second part of the question, the House is already aware that, in the opinion of my right hon. Friend, it is undesirable that the League of Nations should be associated with any inquiry such as that suggested in the territory of a non-member State, except at the request of that State.