§ Mr. LANSBURY(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he can give the House any information as to the Yugoslav-Hungarian dispute?
§ Sir J. SIMONI am very happy to report to the House that the Yugoslav appeal to the League of Nations which has been before the Council of the League for several days, and which at times threatened to give rise to sharp differences of view, has now been dealt with in a way which should lead to reconciliation and appeasement. His Majesty's Government have been exerting themselves throughout in all useful quarters to urge moderation, and the report and resolution presented to the Council yesterday by my right hon. Friend, the Lord Privy Seal, who acted as rapporteur, were unanimously adopted late last night. I take particular satisfaction in dwelling upon the important part which my right hon. Friend, in co-operation with other members of the council, has played in 214 this matter. The rather long text of the resolution appears in this morning's newspapers; I need not occupy time by reading it now, but will ask that it should be printed in the OFFICIAL REPORT. The outcome now largely depends on the local situation as between Yugoslavia and Hungary, and it is sincerely to be hoped that this will improve. But there can be no doubt that the favourable position which has been reached from a situation which so recently appeared to threaten grave consequences, is due first and foremost to the existence and the effective use of the League of Nations.
§ Mr. LANSBURYI am sure that every Member in the House will congratulate our Minister—if we may be allowed first to congratulate our own Minister—on the part he has played in these transactions, and I also very earnestly say that we hope with the Foreign Secretary that the arrangements already come to may lead to a permanent settlement of this dispute.
§ Following is the text of the resolution:
1. The Council—convinced that it interprets the sentiments of the whole League of Nations, unanimously deploring the crime which occasioned the loss of the lives of the knightly King Alexander III of Yugoslavia the Unifier, and of Monsieur Louis Barthou, condemns this odius crime, associates itself with the mourning of the Yugoslav nation and of the French nation, and insists that all those responsible should be punished.
2. The Council recallsthat it is the duty of every State neither to encourage nor tolerate on its territory any terrorist activity with a political purpose,that every State must do all in its power to prevent and repress acts of this nature and must for this purpose lend its assistance to Governments which request it,is of opinion that these duties devolve in particular on the members of the League of Nations in view of the obligations of the Covenant in relation to the engagements they have undertaken to respect the territorial integrity and the existing political independence of the other members.
3. The Councildesirous that the good understanding upon which peace depends should exist between members of the League, and expressing its confidence that they will avoid anything which might be of a nature to compromise it,215noting that as a result of the discussions which have taken place before the Council and of the documents which have been communicated to it, in particular the diplomatic correspondence exchanged between the Hungarian and Yugoslavian Governments from 1931 to 1934, various questions relative to the existence or the activities outside Yugoslav territory of terrorist elements have not been settled in a manner which has given satisfaction to the Yugoslav Government,being of opinion, as the result of these discussions and documents, that certain Hungarian authorities may have assumed, at any rate through negligence, certain responsibilities relative to acts having a connexion with the preparation of the crime at Marseilles,considering on the other hand that it is incumbent on the Hungarian Government, conscious of its international responsibilities, to take at once appropriate punitive action in the case of any of its authorities whose culpability may be established,convinced of the good will of the Hungarian Government to perform this duty,requests it to communicate to the Council the measures it takes to this effect.
4. The Council considering that the rules of international law, concerning the repression of terrorist activities are not at present sufficiently precise to guarantee efficiently international co-operation in this matter,decides to set up a committee of experts to study this question with a view to drawing up a preliminary draft of an international convention to assure the repression of conspiracies or crimes committed with a political or terrorist purpose,decides that this committee shall be composed of eleven members, each of the Governments of Belgium, United Kingdom, France, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Rumania, Spain, Switzerland, U.S.S.R., Chile, being invited to appoint a member,refers to this committee for examination the suggestions which have been presented to the Council by the French Government and requests other Governments which may wish to present suggestions to send them to the Secretary-General, so that they may be examined by the committee,invites the Committee to report to the Council so that the latter may apply the procedure laid down in the resolution of the Assembly of the 25th September, 1931, concerning the drawing up of general conventions negotiated under the auspices of the League of Nations.