THE MESOPOTAMIA PAPERS. (Hansard, 21 June 1916)

§ VISCOUNT MIDLETON
My Lords, I should like to ask the noble Lord the Under-Secretary of State for India when the Mesopotamia Papers will be issued. We were led to hope that they would be available during the Whitsun recess. Your Lordships will notice that there is on the Order Paper a Motion with regard to Mesopotamia standing in the name of Lord Wemyss, for which no day can vet be fixed owing to the absence of these Papers. I hope the noble Lord may be able to tell us that we may expect to have them before very long.

§ THE UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR INDIA (LORD ISLINGTON)
My Lords, I quite appreciate the interest taken by the noble Viscount and shared by other members of the House in regard to the publication of these documents. The Government were fully aware when they undertook to present the Papers that the work of collecting them and putting them into a form suitable for presentation would be a long and laborious business, and for this reason they issued Papers regarding the opinions of Generals in the field as to the advance on Ctesiphon in anticipation of the mass of Papers and correspondence in connection with the Mesopotamia campaign. When this question was last raised stress was laid by the noble Viscount on the importance of including in the Papers certain private communications between the Secretary of State and the Viceroy. The desire of the Government to comply as far as they could with that request has added no inconsiderable amount of labour to the task of producing the Papers. It has been necessary to consult the late Viceroy and also to consult the late Secretary of State for India, my noble friend Lord Crewe, in regard to the private correspondence during his tenure of office. In addition to that, I would point out that in matters of this delicacy it is necessary, before publication, to consult three of the great Departments of the State—the War Office, the Foreign Office, and the Admiralty—regarding the inclusion of documents for which they are responsible, and also to consider in regard to the 337 nature and character of the information to be given, whether it will be in any way prejudicial to the public welfare.
Finally, it has been necessary, as in all these cases, to paraphrase the telegrams. When noble Lords receive the Papers I think they will appreciate that this has been no light task, and I am afraid that at present it cannot be said that the task is by any means complete. It has to be recognised that much of the information contained in the Papers is still of a private character, and in order to avoid disclosing information that might be of service to the enemy the most careful and meticulous revision of the Papers is necessary. I am sure that the noble Viscount will be the last to wish that, in order to save a little time in bringing forward these Papers, there should be any risk whatever of the public welfare or of our interests in the East being prejudiced. I trust that the noble Earl (Lord Wemyss) who has a Motion on the Paper will appreciate the importance of the considerations at stake, and will accept this explanation in the spirit in which I have ventured to tender it.
I need hardly add that no effort is being spared to expedite the publication of these documents. The India Office—as, indeed, all the Public Departments—is at the present time heavily burdened with work in consequence of the war, but additional staff has been added to this branch of the Office in order to bring about this end. I hope it may be possible to lay the Papers in the course of the early days of next month; but this, as I think the House will realise after what I have said, must depend to a large extent on the action of the other Departments concerned, and the expedition with which the difficulties of paraphrasing can be carried out. With this explanation of the situation I trust that, in the interests of anything approaching to a satisfactory and conclusive debate on this subject, noble Lords will wait with patience a little longer for the publication of the Papers.

§ VISCOUNT MIDLETON
My Lords, although we all recognise the courtesy of the noble Lord's full explanation, I think he will recognise that the considerable amount of apology which he has had to make does indicate that he has himself some little misgiving as to the very long time which has had to elapse before these Papers can be brought forward. The noble Lord will not appeal to your Lordships in vain on the question of the in-advisability of publishing anything which might in any way interfere with our military operations, but I could not help thinking that he somewhat overstrained the difficulty as regards the late Viceroy, because the late Viceroy, who was responsible not merely for public Despatches but for the private telegrams in question, is fortunately at this moment in this country accessible for immediate consultation, and this fact ought to have somewhat expedited the production of these Papers. I would only add that, I press for their production because in the interests of the Government I think it necessary to say that the continued reports we are receiving as individuals from Mesopotamia, showing that even now there appear to be great gaps to be filled up in preparedness and points which show that some of those responsible for the provision of the troops have not yet risen to the full measure of their responsibility, make it highly desirable that there should not merely be a debate but that there should be a full inquiry upon this question at the earliest possible moment. The noble Lord spoke of the early days in July. I would remind him that at that period we are approaching the autumn, when it is more difficult to call upon people to be present for an inquiry, and it is absolutely necessary that we should at the earliest moment be allowed to debate these Papers.