§ Mr. MILLSasked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he has authorised the stoppage of merchant ships of other nations upon the high seas; whether or no subjects other than British have been forcibly removed from merchant ships; and, if so, how many since 1st August, and upon what grounds?
§ Sir J. CRAIGThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative, but in one particular case only. At the request of the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs the Senior Naval Officer, Baltic, was directed, on 29th July, to intercept the Finnish steamer "Ariadne" and divert the vessel to Dantzig in order to take off eight Bolshevist prisoners who were proceeding to Russiavia Helsing-fors. These eight Russian prisoners were being released in exchange for British prisoners, amongst whom were officers and men of the Navy at Baku. As no satisfactory assurance from the Soviet Government had been received that the Baku prisoners had been released, the only steps available to His Majesty's Government was to intercept and remove these eight Russians until news was received of the arrival of the British in safety.