§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government why the International Convention on Road Traffic, of which the British Government was a signatory at Geneva in 1949, has not yet been ratified and when it is proposed to take the necessary action.]
§ LORD MANCROFTMy Lords, the delay in ratifying the 1949 Convention on Road Traffic has been due to the need for new legislation and, after that was passed in 1952, to the complications and legal difficulties encountered in preparing the statutory instruments which were necessary to enable Her Majesty's Government to give effect to the Convention. I am, however, glad to be able to inform your Lordships that Orders in Council for this purpose were made in this country and in Northern Ireland last week, and that the Instrument of Ratification is in the last stages of preparation and may be expected to be deposited with the United Nations within the next week.