§ Sir A. WILSONasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the English translations of the French text of treaties published by the League of Nations under Article 18 of the Covenant are in all cases officially checked by the Foreign Office before publication or whether such check is only made in the case of treaties or international engagements to which His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom is a party; whether such check is made before or after publication; and what, if any, provision exists for amending such translations after publication as in the case of the text of the treaty between Poland and Danzig, of 9th November, 1920, published in the League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. VI, Nos. 1 to 4, 1921, which was discovered, in May, 1930, to have been falsified?
§ Mr. EDENIn the case of treaties concluded under the auspices of the League (which are required to have both French and English original texts) and of bilateral treaties to which His Majesty's Government is a party, the English text is of equal authenticity to the foreign text. In the limited case of multilateral treaties which are not concluded under the auspices of the League and of which there is only one authoritative text, a copy is normally communicated for registration to the Secretary-General of the League of Nations by the Government of the country in which the treaty is concluded. The translation of such a treaty, or of a bilateral treaty to which His Majesty's Government is not a party, for publication in the League of Nations Treaty series is a matter within the exclusive competence of the Secretary-General of the League of Nations, and the subsequent publication of any correction or amendment is a matter within his discretion. Translations of treaties for publication in the United Kingdom Treaty Series are invariably made in the Foreign Office.