§ Mr. MORRISasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, in view of the political as well as the technical nature of the questionnaire issued by the League of Nations relating to disarmament, the House will be given the opportunity of considering the replies to the questionnaire being prepared by the Committee of Imperial Defence before they are forwarded to Geneva?
Mr. LOCKER-LAMPSONThe hon. Member's question is, I think, based upon a misconception of the procedure adopted by the League. The questionnaire is intended to assist the Governments concerned by indicating to them in broad outline questions which the Preparatory Committee on Disarmament may have to consider in the task of preparing a programme for a conference on disarmament. A public discussion at this stage of all the details involved in the questionnaire could not, I think, serve any useful purpose, and if all the Governments concerned committed themselves by such public discussions in their respective Parliaments to particular solutions before the meeting of the Preparatory Committee and in anticipation of its discussions, it would seem to me impossible that the Preparatory Committee should arrive at any agreement