§ Mr. SPOORasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if his attention has been drawn to the documents recently published in the United States of America purporting to be authentic copies of certain diplomatic correspondence which passed between London, Paris, and Petrograd in the years immediately preceding the War and said to have been furnished by the then Secretary of the Russian Imperial Embassy in London; if his attention has been drawn to the statement published in connection with the issue of these documents to the effect that His Majesty's late ambassador in Petrograd was instructed before leaving his post to purchase as many of the secret archives of the Imperial Russian Foreign Office as possible, and he did in fact expend a large sum in such purchases; and what action has been taken or is contemplated by His Majesty's Government in connection with these purchases?
Mr. HARMSWORTHThe hon. Member is no doubt referring to some alleged disclosures which appeared a little time ago in the "New York American." There is no foundation whatever for the statements referred to in the second part of the question. The third part does not therefore arise.