§ 2.44 p.m.
§ LORD VANSITTARTMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask His Majesty's Government whether they can make any statement on the reports of increased persecution in Hungary and of large-scale arrests, evictions and deportations; and to inquire what is the present state of our commercial relations with Hungary.]
§ THE LORD CHANCELLOR (VISCOUNT JOWITT)My Lords, so far as I know at present, a number of high officials of the Hungarian Communist Party have been dismissed. Furthermore, large numbers of persons, mostly from the former middle classes and aristocracy, have been expelled at short notice from their homes in Budapest. Irrespective of health, age or ability to earn their living in their new surroundings, they have been forced to move to totally inadequate accommodation in the country. His Majesty's Government have long been repelled by the persistent disregard of the 37 Hungarian Government for the normally accepted standards of decent behaviour, and they are particularly disgusted by the inhumanity of this recent measure. With regard to the second part of the question, there has been no change in the state of our commercial relations with Hungary since December, 1949, when, as a protest against the treatment by the Hungarian authorities of Mr. Sanders, His Majesty's Government suspended trade and financial negotiations with Hungary. His Majesty's Government have told the Hungarian Government that they are willing to resume these negotiations as soon as Mr. Sanders is released.
§ LORD VANSITTARTMy Lords, I warmly welcome the statement of the noble and learned Viscount, that His Majesty's Government are deeply concerned with the inhumanity of these proceedings. I should like to ask whether the Government are aware that some 35,000 people have already been affected, and that the target is supposed to be 100,000; that these unfortunate people are being shipped along in cattle trucks, sometimes forty in a truck, and left for thirty-six hours in a siding, where they die. The effect of deporting these people into the countryside, leaving them with people who cannot afford to keep them, means that they will die of starvation. I would ask His Majesty's Government to call for a full report from our representative on the spot, in order that they may determine, in the light of that report—which I am sure will bear out my information—whether we should not break off negotiations with the Hungarian Government until the atrocities cease.
§ THE LORD CHANCELLORMy Lords, so far as the last part of the supplementary question is concerned, we have substantially done so. Whereas the figures for the period April, 1949, to March 31, 1950, amounted to £6,500,000 for United Kingdom imports, the figures for the period April, 1950, to March 31, 1951, were only £20,000. Therefore, that trade has substantially gone. So far as the rest is concerned, I do not know the details, or the numbers. But I do know enough to say that what has been and is being done should be sufficient to shock the opinion of civilised people throughout the whole world.