§ Sir R. THOMASasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, if he is not prepared immediately to ratify the poison gas protocol of the League of Nations, he will announce through the League that ratification by this country may be regarded as coming automatically into force as soon as the other signatories have ratified it?
§ Sir A. CHAMBERLAINIt has been announced on more than one occasion in this House that His Majesty's Government are not prepared to ratify the gas protocol unless all the other signatories are ready to do so. The position taken up by His Majesty's Government 1793W is thus a matter of common knowledge, and I do not consider that any further pronouncement would lead to any useful result.