§ 2.35 p.m.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, I beg leave 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 have received the Report of the Scientific and Technical Committee of the Fifth Annual N.A.T.O. Parliamentarians' Conference, held last month in Washington, with reference to the teaching and study of certain Asian, African and other languages; and whether they propose to take action on the recommendations contained in the Report.]
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE)My Lords, SO far as I am aware, no approach has yet been made to Her Majesty's Government about this Report. I have myself seen a copy of the Report, and note that its recommendations are addressed in the first instance to the North Atlantic Treaty Council. It would be premature for Her Majesty's Government to express an opinion on these recommendations before the Council has had an opportunity of studying them; but I can assure the noble Lord that, as I stated in reply to his Question of July 14, Her Majesty's Government attach great importance to the provision of adequate facilities for the study of African and Oriental languages.
As the noble Lord will remember, the Scarbrough Commission reported on the whole question in 1947, and, as a result, further facilities were provided at certain universities for the study of these languages. The position in the universities 336 is a matter on which the Government look to the University Grants Committee for advice. That Committee have appointed a Sub-Committee to review developments in the universities since the Scarbrough Report, and to advise them generally in advance of the settlement of the recurrent grants for the universities for the quinquennium 1962–1967. In addition, my right honourable friend, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, has set up an inter-departmental committee to review the whole question of the facilities available for learning African and Oriental languages. When we do receive any recommendations from the North Atlantic Treaty Council on this subject they will, of course, be carefully considered.
§ LORD OGMOREMy Lords, whilst thanking the noble Marquess for that long and detailed reply, may I ask him whether, when the matter comes before the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, the Government will give sympathetic consideration to the Report, which is rather wider in its scope than the matters he indicated in his reply, and whether, in particular, they will give sympathetic consideration to the necessity for support of the School for Oriental and African Studies in this field.
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I cannot anticipate exactly what Her Majesty's Government will do, but as I tried to convey in my Answer, it is a matter to which we attach great importance, and any recommendations which are received will be carefully studied.
§ SEVERAL NOBLE LORDS: Order, order!
EARL JELLICOEMy Lords, I apologise for becoming a Bishop and for speaking from the wrong Bench. In view of the importance which the Government attach to this matter, and in view of the fact that I succeeded the noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, on the Scientific and Technical Committee of the N.A.T.O. Parliamentarians, may I ask whether Her Majesty's Government are prepared to instruct our Permanent Representative on the North Atlantic Council that he should 337 bring this Report and these recommendations to the particular attention of his colleagues on the Council, with a view to making real and rapid progress in this matter? And would he also consider the possibility of having these recommendations, and also the Report of the London Study Group, brought to the attention of the North Atlantic Studies Committee, which I understand meets under the Presidency of M. de Staercke, the permanent Belgian Representative on the North Atlantic Council, and on which there is a British Representative, Professor Max Beloff?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, whether my noble friend is speaking in an episcopal or a lay capacity, I can assure him that we will pay great attention to what he said. I hope there is no confusion here. As I understand it, the Report simply goes from the Standing Committee to the North Atlantic Council, and it is not for Her Majesty's Government to make any recommendations in that sense. As I indicated to the noble Lord, Lord Ogmore, when we receive the recommendations we will take account of them and pay close attention to them. I am afraid that at this stage we cannot go further than that.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, does the noble Marquess know what these languages are, and whether the Chinese language is included in them?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I always enjoy talking to the noble Viscount about China. I think it would be true to say that"Oriental languages" probably includes Chinese.