HC Deb 20 June 1934 vol 291 cc355-6
1. Mr. MANDER

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is now able to state the names of the British representatives, whether Parliamentary or drawn from the Civil Service, on the four sub-committees of the Disarmament Commission recently appointed at Geneva?

The LORD PRIVY SEAL (Mr. Eden)

The United Kingdom representative on the Special Committee on Security and on the committee which is dealing with the question of Guarantees of Execution ano Supervision is at present Sir William Malkin, the Legal Adviser to the Foreign Office. I understand that the Committee on the Control of the Manufacture of and Trade in Arms has not yet met. As at present arranged, the United Kingdom representatives on this committee will be Mr. Stevenson (Foreign Office) and Brigadier Temperley (War Office). The date of the next meeting of the Air Committee is not fixed, and it has not yet been decided who will be the United Kingdom representatives.

2. Mr. MANDER

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs why, at the meeting of the Committee of the Disarmament Conference dealing with the question of guarantees of execution, held on 13th June at Geneva, the British representative, Mr. Strang, took no part in the discussion; and whether it is the intention of the British Government to actively participate in the further proceedings?

Mr. EDEN

The meeting to which the hon. Member refers was private and was for the purpose of deciding the manner in which the committee could best deal with its task which is the technical examination of a new and complicated subject. His Majesty's Government having agreed to the appointment of the Committee on Guarantees of Execution, and being represented upon it, the United Kingdom representative has naturally made and will make whatever contribution is best designed to further the work of the Committee. I would ask the hon. Member not to draw inferences to the contrary from statements he may have seen about a private meeting, no official record of which has been circulated even to the Governments there represented.