§ 2. Mr. DE LA BEREasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is in a position to ascertain whether the German Government is prepared, in connection with its offer contained in the memorandum communicated by the German Government to His Majesty's Government on Saturday, 7th March, 1936, to negotiate new agreements for the establishment of a system of European security, to include in the proposed nonaggression pact Austria and Czechoslovakia?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEI would refer my hon. Friend to the statement made by my right hon. Friend in the House last Monday and to the reply given on the same day to a supplementary question asked by my right hon. Friend the Member for West Birmingham, to which I have nothing to add.
§ 3. Mr. MANDERasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has any statement to make with reference to the situation resulting from Germany's unilateral repudiation of the Treaty of Locarno?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEI would refer the hon. Member to the statement made by my right hon. Friend on Monday last and to the statement made by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the course of the Debate yesterday, to which I have nothing to add.
§ Mr. MANDERIs the Noble Lord able to say in what building the Council will meet in London?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEI am afraid I cannot answer that question yet.
§ 6. Mr. GARRO-JONESasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the permanent Conciliation Commission provided for under the Treaties of Locarno has ever been set up; and who are now its members?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEI understand that the permanent Conciliation Commissions, referred to in Article 3 of the Locarno Treaty of Mutual Guarantee and provided for in the four Arbitration Conventions signed at the same time as that 2105 treaty, were subsequently set up. My right hon. Friend has, however, no information to show who are now the members of these commissions.
§ Mr. GARRO-JONESIn view of the considerable importance of this question, could the Noble Lord say who are the members of the Commission which is relied upon to arbitrate in the case of a breach of the Locarno Treaty?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEI would remind the hon. Member that the actual composition of these Conciliation Committees which have to deal with disputes between two foreign Governments is not a matter of direct concern to His Majesty's Government, as they are included in the subsidiary agreements to which His Majesty's Government were not a signatory.
§ Mr. GARRO-JONESIn view of the fact that the recent German action has been regarded more as a breach of the Locarno Treaty than of any prior engagements, would it not be right that machinery set up for conciliation under the Locarno Treaty rather than under prior obligations under the League of Nations would be more proper machinery for arbitrating on the issue?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEIn his original question the hon. Member asked who are now the members of this commission, and I have answered that question.
§ 7. Mr. GARRO-JONESasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he has had under consideration the second paragraph of Article 1, Part I, of the Locarno Arbitration Convention between Germany and France; whether he is aware that this paragraph states that the necessity to refer disputes to arbitration does not apply to disputes arising out of events prior to the present Convention and belonging to the past; and whether this qualification to the Convention has ever been the subject of elucidation or interpretation?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEThe answers to the first and second parts of the question are Yes, Sir. As regards the third part of the question I am not aware that the provision has been the subject of any international interpretation.
§ Mr. GARRO-JONESIn view of the great ambiguity of this Clause in the Convention, and in view of the fact that it has never been interpreted and that nobody knows what it means, if it means anything, will the Noble Lord give it some consideration in the Foreign Office, and will he give the House some information at a later date if I put down another question?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEI would refer the hon. Member to a statement made by the then Foreign Secretary in the course of the Debate on 18th November, 1925, from which he will be able to get some information.
§ Mr. GARRO-JONESDid that statement purport to interpret this Clause in the Treaty?
§ Viscount CRANBORNEI think the hon. Member had better look at it.
§ 45. Mr. MANDERasked the Prime Minister whether he will consider the desirability of informing the French Government that in the event of France being unwilling to co-operate fully with the British and other Governments, members of the League of Nations, in imposing sanctions in the Italo-Abyssinian dispute, it is unlikely that British public opinion could be relied on to support British assistance to France if required under the Locarno Treaties?
§ The PRIME MINISTER (Mr. Baldwin)I see no reason to inform the French Government of what the attitude of His Majesty's Government might be in circumstances which have not arisen and, it is to be hoped, may not arise.
§ Mr. MANDERCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether it will be made clear in any negotiations that may take place that collective security must operate everywhere, and not only against Germany?
§ Mr. SANDYSDoes my right hon. Friend not consider that to make the honouring of Great Britain's Treaty obligations a subject for bargaining, as the hon. Gentleman opposite suggests, would be wholly dishonourable?
§ Mr. RADFORDIs my right hon. Friend aware that in British public opinion sanctions do nothing to achieve peace?