§ Major ENTWISTLEasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the Hull trawler "St. Hubert" was illegally arrested by the Russian Government when 10½ miles distant from the shore of Murmansk; and whether, in view of this event, and the recent illegal arrest and loss of the "Magneta," he will reconsider the advisability of sending a British gunboat to those waters or, if not, what steps the British Government proposes to take to guard against a repetition of such events, and to protect the interests of the British fishing industry in those waters?
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Mr. HARMSWORTHI would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to my answer to the hon. and gallant Member for North West Hull (Colonel L. Ward). As regards the second part of the question, the British agent at Moscow will demand from the Soviet Government an assurance that British shipping will not be interfered with in future. If this assurance is not forthcoming, His Majesty's Government will take whatever steps may be necessary to protect British shipping.