§ Lieut.-Colonel POWNALLasked the Prime Minister whether any reply, and, if so, what, has been given to the note which was addressed to His Majesty's Government by Sir Eric Drummond, Secretary-General of the League of Nations, on 8th December last, respect- 928W ing a proposal for the creation of an international organisation of mutual aid for assistance to peoples stricken by calamities, which had the unanimous support of the Conference of the Inter-Parliamentary Union at Copenhagen last year and most favourably received by the Fourth Assembly of the League of Nations?
§ The PRIME MINISTERA reply was sent a month ago, after careful consideration, stating that, in the opinion of His Majesty's Government, the scheme would raise questions of great practical difficulty to which insufficient attention had been paid, and that His Majesty's Government were not convinced of the advantage of the scheme and would not feel justified in recommending Parliament to vote the sums necessary to finance participation in it by this country.