§ 2.48 p.m.
§ LORD COLYTONMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the second Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government what is the value of British agricultural and industrial properties, including oil installations and public utilities, taken over by the present Cuban Government, what compensation has been offered to the owners and how much has been paid.]
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, the main British asset in Cuba is the United Kingdom interest, amounting to 40 per cent., in the Shell de Cuba Oil Company, which had invested 47 million dollars altogether in Cuba. The property of this company including its refinery has been "intervened", which means that the State takes over the administration of its affairs without expropriation. No compensation has been either offered or paid 348 for the consequent loss to the company. No other British industrial property has been taken over, but a chain of ironmongers' shops, valued at approximately £220,000, belonging to a British subject, has recently been expropriated. Three British-owned agricultural properties have been taken over under the Agrarian Reform Law. Representations have been made by Her Majesty's Embassy in all these cases and the restoration of the property has been demanded.
§ LORD COLYTONMy Lords, I hope that Her Majesty's Government will continue to press those representations with a view to the restoration of the property or to the payment of compensation. But I should like to ask my noble friend whether Her Majesty's Government will not consult with the United States Government and the Canadian Government to concert some form of economic action in the face of the depredations of this neo-Communistic dictatorship which they now have in Cuba.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, I will certainly consider that.
§ LORD MORRISON OF LAMBETHMy Lords, is the noble Earl not worried about this tendency of some countries, including small countries, to go in for confiscation without compensation? Can nothing be done in the United Nations to secure justice against small, as well as big, nations? And why are we going on buying enormous quantities of cigars and other imports from Cuba? Is it not time that we stopped our imports from Cuba, in view of the fact that they have stolen our people's property?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, I will certainly bear in mind what the noble Lord has said.
§ EARL WINTERTONMy Lords, following on the question put by the noble Lord, Lord Morrison of Lambeth, will my noble friend look into the astronomical sums of money which British investors have lost in the last twenty years in many countries owing to this form of expropriation, while successive British Governments have taken no action to redress the situation, either by raising the question at the Uniter Nations or by taking action on their own? Will he look into the whole question?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, my noble friend will, I am sure, give me particulars of any other cases which he has in mind. I do not think it would be quite fair to say that Her Majesty's Government have taken no action or made no effort to redress matters.
§ LORD LAWSONMy Lords, may I ask the noble Earl whether he can tell us how much of this oil is coming to Britain?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEENot without notice, my Lords.
§ EARL WINTERTONMy Lords, as my noble friend has asked me to give him examples, I would ask whether he will consider the case of Abadan and a number of South American railways which have been expropriated and which belonged to British capital?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, I do not think any of us are likely to forget these things.
§ LORD FRASER OF LONSDALEMy Lords, must we not bear in mind that expropriation, however disagreeable in thought to us and in fact to those affected, is a matter of domestic law and action? It is not a matter of international law, I think, and therefore could hardly be a casus belli, and we should be cautious how we approach this matter. We might have to dig up a lot of history going back to the days before the First World War.
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, my noble friend is entirely right in saying that it is a domestic matter and therefore could not be a casus belli. On the other hand, it is, of course, morally unjust.
§ LORD CONESFORDMy Lords, is my noble friend convinced that this is quite outside the province of international law?
§ THE EARL OF DUNDEEMy Lords, I did not say it was outside international law; I said it was a domestic matter which might impinge on international law. But I think that my noble friend Lord Fraser of Lonsdale was correct in saying that it was not a casus belli.