§ Sir J. Wardlaw-Milneasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1) if he is satisfied that the possession by unauthorised persons of the Report to the 50W President of the U.S.A. by his personal representative in India, containing slighting references to the Indian Army, was not due to any leakage of information from British sources or any failure of secrecy in British codes;
(2) if, in view of the bad effect on the relations between this country and the U.S.A. of the charges made in the American Senate that charge withdrawal of Mr. William Phillips as President Roosevelt's personal representative in India was on the grounds that he was non persona grata, he will make a statement on the subject.
§ Mr. George HallSuggestions that His Majesty's Government or the Government of India had informed the United States Government that Mr. Phillips waspersona non grata have already been denied by Mr. Cordell Hull and by His Majesty's Ambassador at Washington. His Majesty's Government are not in a position to confirm the authenticity of Mr. Phillips' report, which was addressed to the President of the United States. It naturally never passed through British hands, and there is, therefore, no question of its leakage from British sources, and I am satisfied that there has been no compromising of any British code or cypher in this connection. As to the criticisms of the Indian Army in the report, I should like to take this opportunity on behalf of His Majesty's Government of paying that Army the warmest possible tribute. Every Indian in it is a volunteer, and its fighting record over five years in every theatre of war has not been surpassed by any army in the field.