§ Sir H. CRAIKasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether his attention has been drawn to a statement issued by the United States Government with regard to the use made in an Official Report prepared in 1920 by that Government of certain forgeries purporting to be British official documents; and whether the United States Government can be asked to disclose the source from which these documents were obtained?
§ Mr. McNEILLThe documents referred to are an alleged Proclamation signed by Queen Victoria and by Lord Salisbury, as Secretary of State for India, dated 24th September, 1884, and an exclusive concession to the Burmah Oil Company, dated 23rd August, 1885. Lord Salisbury had ceased to be Secretary of State for India six years earlier, and the language of both documents showed them to be obvious forgeries. The United States Government were so informed in 1921, but no official admission was made till last year, correspondence 'having -in the meantime been diverted to a side issue, namely, the precise effect of existing legislation in India. The use of the forged documents again made in an official report recently addressed to the Senate, and in a decision on an application for an oil lease rendered by the late Secretary of State of the Interior on 3rd March, caused His Majesty's Government to make further representations to the United States Government. These have elicited the statement to which the hon. Member refers. It is not clear from the information in the possession of His Majesty's Government whether the documents originated in the Bureau of Mines in 1919, or in the United States Consulate in Bombay.