HC Deb 17 July 1912 vol 41 cc411-2W
Mr. MACMASTER

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs who personally, in connection with the British Embassy at Washington, represents the Government of this country in connection with discussions in relation to the treaty or treaties between the United Kingdom and the United States upon the subject of the Panama Canal; and whether the representations of this Government in that con- nection were not made, as is customary, personally to the Secretary of State for the United States at Washington, but were communicated from a distant seaside resort in the State of Maine?

Mr. ACLAND

His Majesty's Embassy in the United States is, as usual during the absence of the Ambassador, in charge of the Councillor of Embassy, as His Majesty's Chargé d'Affaires. The Embassy, in accordance with the usual custom, removed from Washington to summer quarters at Kineo, Maine, on 15th June last. Important representations are usually made in writing by the Embassy to the State Department. His Majesty's representative in a foreign country is the proper channel of communication, and the procedure followed in this case has been in accord with diplomatic custom.