HC Deb 13 April 1960 vol 621 cc1253-4
27. Mr. Emrys Hughes

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he will make a statement on the practical measures of international co-operation in the Continent of Antarctica in which Her Majesty's Government have participated since the signing of the international agreement relating to that Continent.

Mr. R. Allan

The Treaty has not yet been ratified by any country although Her Majesty's Government hope to do so soon. In the meantime, apart from an increase in the free exchange of general and scientific information, discussions are being held in Washington about the form future co-operation should take.

Mr. Hughes

Have not Her Majesty's Government practically agreed to some measure of neutralisation in the Antarctic Continent, with a view to providing security for the penguins there? Is it not time that they adopted the same attitude towards Europe, which is more highly populated?

Mr. Allan

My right hon. and learned Friend has already referred to the neutralising of the area, but in negotiating the Treaty we did not have to consult the penguins, which are not political animals—fortunately for them, perhaps.