§ Mr. ATTLEE(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to the report of the arrest in Berlin of two Englishmen named T. Corden Catchpool, head of the Society of Friends in Berlin, and Geoffrey Fraser, employed by the Trans-Ocean Wireless News Agency, and what action it is proposed to take in the matter?
§ Mr. EDENYes, Sir. My information is that both these men are detained in the Polizeipraesidium in the Alexander-platz. In the case of Mr. Catchpool His Majesty's Ambassador at Berlin is already in communication with the German authorities with a view to ascertaining the nature of the charge against him. Meanwhile permission has been asked for His Majesty's Consul to visit him. Inquiries are being made in Mr. Fraser's case.
§ Mr. ATTLEEMay I take it that, in accordance with modern custom, we shall demand the immediate release of these men without trial?
§ Mr. COCKSIs the hon. Gentleman aware that in the case of Mr. Fraser, unlike the other case, the arrest was made, not by the regular police, but by the Hitler storm troops, whose custom it is to torture and murder their prisoners, and will he demand the instant release of this British subject?
§ Mr. EDENI have not the information that the hon. Member has been good enough to give me, but, if he had listened to my answer, he would have observed that both prisoners are in the hands of the police.
§ Mr. McGOVERNWill the Government consider the withdrawal of the British Ambassador?