§ Mr. COUPERasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that, under the Treaty of Trianon, the duty is thrown upon the Council of the League of Nations, in case of one of the Governments concerned failing to fill a vacancy on a mixed arbitral tribunal, to choose two persons, one of whom may be chosen by the other Government, to fill such vacancy; and whether he will state for what reason the Council did not choose such two persons at the time the application was made by Hungary?
§ Mr. TEMPLETONasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, seeing that the mixed arbitral tribunal set up under the Treaty of Trianon, to which Great Britain is a party, is the appropriate body to decide judicially on 514W the claims of the Hungarian nationals, he will state why the Council of the League of Nations did not, in March last, take the necessary steps, provided for by such treaty, to enable the claims to be heard by such tribunal according to the recognised principles of international law, unfettered by any conditions imposed upon the tribunal or the parties to the case?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINI am quite unable to accept the assumptions which lie at the root of the hon. Members' questions. The Council of the League has, in this matter, acted strictly in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Trianon.
The question of the appointment of supplementary Judges to the Mixed Rumano-Hungarian Tribunal was first brought to the notice of the Council in March last by the Rumanian Government under Article 11 of the Covenant which forms an integral part of the Treaty of Trianon.
The Council in its consideration of the question was bound to have regard to the terms of this Article. I feel it my duty to protest very respectfully but very earnestly against the attempts which are being made to secure an ex parte declaration here on a matter which has been referred to the Council by the parties and is still sub judice by the Council.
Lieut.-Colonel MOOREasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that appointments to fill the vacancies then arising were made in pursuance of the Report of Mr. Ador, mentioned in page 629 of the League of Nations Journal of 1923, and that the mixed arbitral tribunal so constituted dealt with the cases that had arisen; and if he will state why the same procedure has not been followed in regard to the Rumano-Hungarian Mixed Arbitral Tribunal under the Treaty of Trianon?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINMy hon. Friend is misinformed. The report to which he refers was drawn up by a member of the Council of the League, not Monsieur Ador, whose functions had ceased as soon as the Council had been set up. This report merely states that it was desirable to appoint the supplementary judges to the tribunals men- 515W tioned in the report in order to give effect to Article 304 of the Treaty of Versailles and the corresponding Articles in the Treaties of St. Germain (Article 256), Trianon (Article 239), and Neuilly (Article 188), to which the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs had appealed. The case now before the Council was brought to their notice by the Rumanian Government under Article 11 of the Covenant, and the action of the Council has been in strict conformity with the duties imposed upon it by that Article. I must very respectfully decline to enter further in this House upon the discussion of a question of this nature which is still pending before the Council.