CaptainBENN asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been called to a letter written by M. Rakovsky, Russian Chargé d'Affaires in London, to the Association of British Creditors of Russia, in which he states that the right to private property has been re-established in Russia; and whether this change in the Russian civil code has been taken into account in considering the question of reopening negotiations with the Russian Government?
Mr. SAMUELThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part, M. Rakovsky refers in this letter to Soviet decrees 1735W published in 1921 and 1922. As the terms of these decrees were not retro-active, they could have no bearing on the reopening of any negotiations between His Majesty's Government and the Soviet Government.