HC Deb 19 June 1911 vol 27 cc125-6W
Mr. BUTCHER

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the fact that the question of the legality of the conversion of merchantmen into warships on the high seas is left unsettled by the Declaration of London, the International Prize Court, when established, would not under The Hague Conference of 1907 be entitled and bound to decide all questions relating to such conversion in accordance with what the majority of that Court might conceive to be the general principles of justice and equity; and whether such decisions of the International Prize Court would not be binding upon and enforced against British subjects; and whether His Majesty's Government still adhere to their expressed views that, in the event of an International Prize Court being established and the Declaration of London being ratified, our position as regards questions left unsettled by the Declaration will be the same as it has hitherto been?

Mr. McKINNON WOOD

It is impossible to discuss these complicated matters within the limits of the reply to a question, but the subject will be dealt with fully in Debate within a very short time.

Mr. BUTCHER

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will state which, if any, of the Powers represented at the London Naval Conference have up to the present time ratified the Declaration?

Mr. McKINNON WOOD

The Declaration has not yet been ratified by any Power.