§ Mr. LANSBURY(by Private Notice) asked the Lord President of the Council whether his attention has been called to a statement made at the Assembly of the League of Nations by the Chinese delegation on the 8th March, in which it is alleged that the Japanese Government contemplate despatching troops to the Tientsin area; whether he has information on the subject; and whether, if he is satisfied that these allegations are well founded, he will make representations to the Japanese Government, in view of the situation in Shanghai and in China generally, as to the danger of moving troops to Tientsin?
§ The LORD PRESIDENT of the COUNCIL (Mr. Baldwin)The House will remember that this question was put yesterday and that I said I had not received it. I regret to say that I was in error. What happened was that two questions were handed to me the night before last, typewritten on very thin paper. I took the first one, handed it to my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, and asked him to get me a reply by 10 o'clock in the evening, in order that I might study it. I assumed that the second question was merely a copy of the first, and I owe the House an apology for having jumped to that conclusion, and I owe the right hon. Gentle- 2120 man the Leader of the Opposition an apology for imagining for one moment that he could limit himself to one Private Notice Question. I will now read the answer that ought to have been given yesterday, which stands just the same as if it had been given yesterday.
The official record of the League of Nations proceedings at the Assembly on 8th March has not yet been received, but I have no information which would justify me in concluding that the Japanese Government contemplate the despatch of troops to Tientsin. Since, therefore, I am without confirmation of the allegation referred to by the right hon. Gentleman, the question of representations to the Japanese Government does not arise.