HC Deb 16 August 1920 vol 133 cc612-3W
Mr. LYLE

asked the Secretary of State for War what steps are being taken to reestablish British authority in Mesopotamia?

Mr. CHURCHILL

The military situation is being taken in hand, and there is nothing further to add to the official communiqués that are being issued periodically.

Sir J. D. REES

asked the Secretary of State for India, if, under his direction and under the control of a civil commissioner, the work of government in Mesopotamia is carried on by various Departments, including education, law, customs, religious endowments, and agricultural development; if municipalities have been established wherever possible and tribal councils are developing into divisional councils charged with the expansion of railways, standardisation of weights and measures, and health services; and, if so, if he will say under what authority scientific Western administration of this character is being introduced into Mesopotamia?

Mr. MONTAGU

The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As to the second, municipalities and tribal councils have received every encouragement, and divisional councils have been created as a first step towards the development of those self-governing institutions, which, by the Anglo-French Declaration of November, 1918, we are pledged to foster. The suggestion conveyed in the last part of the question is, I think, rather in advance of the facts of the case, but the hon. Member has perhaps forgotten that administration of a kind was conducted with more or less inefficiency by the late Turkish Government, and that the duty of administering a country under military occupation is imposed by the Hague Convention on the Army of Occupation.

Sir J. DAVIDSON

asked the Secretary of State for India whether, as reported in the Baghdad Chamber of Commerce, it is the intention of the Government to withdraw from the northern portion of the mandatory territory of Mesopotamia; and, if that be the ease, will he define the Government's intentions in the matter?

Mr. MONTAGU

The answer is in the negative.