§ 20 and 22. Sir ARTHUR MICHAEL SAMUELasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) if he will ascertain from the Hungarian Government the grounds upon which the National Bank of Hungary is being prevented from transferring in the stipulated currencies certain funds now in the custody of that bank and belonging to the trustee representing British investors in various pre-War loans raised in Britain by Hungarian nationals;
(2) if he will inquire of the Hungarian Government whether that Government has taken steps to prevent the infraction of the Ostend Convention to which it was a party and by which British investors, who had entrusted their savings to Hungarian nationals, were by agreement accorded rights over receipts from Hungarian municipal electricity, gas and water undertakings?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Mr. Eden)The reasons for the existing transfer moratorium in Hungary are stated in the communique issued by the Hungarian Government on the 23rd December, which was published in the Press at the time. It would appear that the Ostend Convention was concluded between the municipality of Budapest and its foreign creditors and that the Hungarian Government was not a party, it being merely provided that the Convention was subject to that Government's approval within a given time. I do not therefore consider that the inquiries suggested by my hon. Friend would serve any useful purpose.