§ 39. Captain Bullockasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if any organisation will be set up to keep in touch with, and watch over, the interests of those Poles who may return to Poland on the advice of His Majesty's Government.
§ Mr. BevinI have made plain in my statement on this subject in the House on 20th March the determination of His Majesty's Government to deal justly by these men and to continue, when they go back, to use our influence in favour of the strict fulfilment of the Yalta and Potsdam decisions relating to Poland. I also explained in my statement that His Majesty's Government had received information from the Polish Provisional Government about the conditions under which members of the Polish Armed Forces under British Command will return to Poland. In these circumstances, I do not think that the establishment of a special organisation is called for.
§ Captain BullockDoes the Foreign Secretary realise that many people in this country would feel a peculiar and uneasy responsibility for these men for many years to come?
§ Professor SavoryMay I ask the Foreign Secretary if, under the very Words of the Potsdam Agreement, we are entitled to expect that all Poles returning are given exactly the same personal and property rights as all other Poles?
§ Mr. BevinYes, but I cannot anticipate another Government's defalcation in advance. If I have been given these assurances, I must give them all opportunity to carry them out.
§ Mr. Godfrey NicholsonWhile I agree with what the right hon. Gentleman has said, may I ask if he does not understand that there is some uneasiness in this country that the Foreign Secretary and the Government in this country have underwritten the future prospects of these men?
§ Mr. BevinI do not think there is any misapprehension at all. I think there are other honest men in the world as well as ourselves.
Vice-Admiral TaylorIs the Foreign Secretary satisfied that this Provisional Government will carry out the conditions which the right hon. Gentleman put before them when these men return to Poland, because they are rather concerned about it and say they are not authorised by the Warsaw Government?