§ 35. Mr. Donnellyasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what progress he has made in his discussions at Geneva regarding the revision of the rates of exchange for tourists visiting Communist countries.
§ Mr. H. MacmillanDuring the Geneva Conference I represented to the Soviet Delegation that the present rate of exchange of the rouble constitutes a barrier not only to tourism but also to many other forms of contact with the Soviet people. Mr. Molotov rejected this representation, alleging that it was an attempt to intervene in Soviet internal affairs.
§ Mr. DonnellyDid the right hon. Gentleman make it clear to Mr. Molotov at the time that the present rate of exchange means that the only people who can go to study Soviet affairs are the wicked capitalists—or the representatives of the capitalist Press—because they are the only people who can possibly go in the present circumstances?
§ Mr. MacmillanI would not make quite so sweeping a statement or I might offend certain Members of the House. I did represent that it had the effect that no genuine tourists—people who have saved up their money to make their own little trips on their own—could possibly travel, but that everyone was selected and paid for by an institution of one kind or another.