HC Deb 11 April 1932 vol 264 cc549-51
50. Captain P. MACDONALD

asked the Secretary of State for Dominion Affairs if he is in a position to state the nature of the reply sent to the Irish Free State Government on the questions of land purchase annuities and other treaty obligations?

The SECRETARY of STATE for DOMINION AFFAIRS (Mr. J. H. Thomas)

With the permission of the House I will answer with this question the Private Notice question which was put to me by my right hon. Friend the Leader of the Opposition as arranged on last Wednesday. The Government have now examined, and have sent a reply to, the despatch received from the Irish Free State Government last week. In view of the great importance of these communications, the Government have decided that their text should be made immediately available to the House, and hon. Members will find copies ready in the Votes Office when I sit down. I will not, therefore, attempt to summarise the correspondence. I will only say that in their reply to Mr. de Valera the Government have reaffirmed in unmistakable language that they stand absolutely by the Treaty Settlement.

Mr. LANSBURY

May I give the right hon. Gentleman notice that, when we have considered the document which has been issued to-day, it may be that we shall require to ask for time to debate the matter, and we shall do so through the usual channels if we so desire.

The PRIME MINISTER

I think that is very reasonable, and we shall do everything we can to facilitate it.

Mr. MAXTON

Is it the considered view of the Government that this treaty, having once been entered into between the two nations, is incapable of review and must stand for all time?

Mr. THOMAS

If the hon. Member will see the White Paper which is now available, he will see the Government answer to that.

Mr. MAXTON

I am well aware that the White Paper will be there. I understood the right hon. Gentleman promised that he would make a statement to-day, and I thought it would be made in the ordinary way and that we should have an opportunity of question and answer. By the method the right hon. Gentleman is taking the House is being denied—

Mr. SPEAKER rose

—

Mr. MAXTON

I am putting it to you, Sir, as a point of Order.

Mr. SPEAKER

The hon. Member did not say so.

Mr. MAXTON

I hoped that I would have achieved my purpose by the ordinary method of question and answer across the Floor. I put it to you, Sir, that it is the practice of the House when the Minister has promised to make a statement to the House, that that statement is made in full at the end of Question Time and that there is certainly opportunity for the House, by extended question and answer, to get to know the mind of the Government on the question. I ask you, Sir, whether it is in order for the right hon. Gentleman to make a statement which refers to a White Paper which we cannot see until after Question Time and postpones the possibilities of the House discussing this question until some date not yet fixed?

Mr. SPEAKER

There is no practice of the House in this connection. What is done is entirely dependent upon the particular question under discussion and the answer that the right hon. Gentleman has given. The right hon. Gentleman is perfectly in order in what he has said.

Mr. DEVLIN

Is the declaration which the right hon. Gentleman has just made, that there will be no departure from the Treaty and that there will be no revision of the Treaty, part of the policy of the Government in relation to all treaties or only in relation to the Irish Treaty?

Mr. SPEAKER

That matter hardly arises out of the question.