§ Mr. JOHNasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the French Government have been pressed in the French Chamber to grant no facilities for the working of mineral properties by foreigners to the prejudice of British metallurgical interests, particularly in Algeria, and that the Minister of Public Works pleaded for permission to sanction enterprises conducted by subjects of the Allied Powers; if he will say whether the Government has made or will make representations urging the importance of this course; and whether similar representations will be made to the Russian Government in connection with pending sales of German-owned manganese mines?
§ Lord R. CECILThe question of the grant of concessions for the working of mineral properties in Algeria and elsewhere in French territory was discused in a recent debate in the French Chamber of Deputies, but it is hardly correct to state that the French Government were pressed to grant no facilities for the working of such properties by foreigners. One point raised was whether the French Government should grant such concessions without first submitting them to Parliament for approval, and into that question His Majesty's Government could obviously not enter. But they are, of course, anxious to assist British enterprises in France and elsewhere by every means in their power.1034W His Majesty's Government are in communication with the Russian Government in regard to the manganese mines in the Caucasus, but the final decision of the Russian Government as to the conditions on which their sale will be effected has not yet been made known.