§ 3.6 p.m.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I beg to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they can now make a statement on the report from The Times correspondent in Madrid, to the effect that on April 24 Spanish officials visited the premises in Madrid of the British and Foreign Bible Society (which is British property), seized and removed 36,189 volumes of the New Testament and some books of the Old Testament in various languages, ancient and modern, and deposited them at the Ministry of Information; and whether any steps have been taken, or are contemplated to be taken, to protect human rights and religious freedom in this matter.]
THE MINISTER OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)My Lords, according to my information, officials of the Spanish Ministry of Information searched the premises of the British and Foreign Bible Society in Madrid on April 20. On April 24 one of the Ministry's inspectors returned to remove all the Society's stocks of literature, including over 9,000 copies 118 of the complete New Testament and a further 20,000 copies of various separate books of the New Testament. The Spanish authorities have not yet given any explanation of their seizure of the Society's literature. It is however possible that they will claim that some of the literature had been imported without import licences or printed without the authority required by Spanish law.
On learning of this incident, Her Majesty's Embassy at Madrid at once requested the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs to investigate the matter, with a view to the restoration of the property seized. Her Majesty's Government deplore the seizure of these Testaments, but I should prefer to avoid further comment until Her Majesty's Embassy have had a reply to their representations. The Society has experienced recurrent difficulties in printing in Spain or importing into Spain the plain text of the Bible in Spanish. It is to be hoped that the Spanish authorities may now be willing to find a solution to these difficulties.
§ VISCOUNT ALEXANDER OF HILLSBOROUGHMy Lords, I am very much obliged to the noble Marquess for the statement he has made and for its nature. I should have been tempted, but for the statement, to have made comment by way of further inquiry to-day, but in view of the statement that he has made, and the fact that Her Majesty's Government are so clearly doing what we think is their duty in this matter, we desire to applaud them for the steps they have taken and hope that they will follow them up.
§ VISCOUNT STANSGATEMy Lords, in view of the very satisfactory statement of the noble Marquess, is he aware that people in Europe are hungry to have the Bible, and that since the Vatican control in Poland was removed 1,020,000 copies of the Holy Scriptures have been sent to Poland by the British and Foreign Bible Society?
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, I am perfectly prepared to accept the noble Viscount's figures, but the immediate matter I was dealing with was the question of what had been happening in Spain.
§ LORD HANKEYMy Lords, I hope that I shall not be out of order, but as one of my ancestors not only was one of 119 the founders of the Bible Society but also translated the Bible into Spanish for the first time, I should like to associate myself with the mover of the Question and, if I may, with the Government's reply.