§ Sir R. COOPERasked the Under-Secretary of State for War whether the sentences passed by a court-martial at Clausthal in March last on Lieutenant T. P. Molloy, of the Dorset Regiment and the Royal Air Force, together with ten other officers, all prisoners of war at Clausthal, are in accordance with the agreements in regard to the treatment of prisoners of war recently arranged at The Hague; and, if not, what steps he proposes to take to ensure that these prisoners are treated in accordance with the agreement referred to?
Mr. J. HOPEIn the opinion of His Majesty's Government, the sentences of seven months' imprisonment passed by the German authorities on these officers for an action which was incidental to an attempt to escape is in direct contravention of paragraph 16 of the Hague Agreement. The Netherland Minister at Berlin has been requested to take every action possible to secure a reduction of the sentences and to inform the German Government that His Majesty's Government will be forced to interpret this paragraph in a manner similar to that in which it has been interpreted by the German authorities in this case, unless the latter give an assurance that such breaches of the agreement shall not recur.