§ Mr. Grovesasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that the document printed in the White Paper, Cmd. 3326, was an agreement dated 22nd May, 1929, for the grant of the concession within 12 months for the extraction of salts from the Dead Sea, and that when that agreement was executed there was also executed an agreement between the same parties which nullified the concession if within three years a pre-war Turkish concession granting similar rights then held by a British subject was held to be valid; whether he is also aware that this agreement for the grant of the concession was stated in Appendix XIV of the Annual Report on Palestine and Transjordan for 1929 to have been concluded, and no reference was made to the other agreement; and why was this other agreement, which was a vital part of the terms under which the concession was being granted, withheld from this House and all reference to it omitted from the report?
Marquess of HartingtonThe hon. Member is not correct in stating that the documents printed in the White Paper, Command 3326, which was published on the 8th of May, 1929, comprised an agreement dated the 22nd of May, 1929. The Command Paper purported to contain, and did contain, merely the drafts of the 3349W Preliminary Agreement and Heads of Concession which were not actually signed until the 22nd of May in that year. The drafts which appear in the White Paper were undated except for the year "1929."
As regards the second part of the question, my right hon. Friend is aware that an agreement was also signed on the 22nd of May with reference to the effect of a Turkish concession. This and the "preliminary agreement" were superseded by the Deed and the final concession agreement which were signed, as mentioned in a previous reply, on the 1st of January, 1930. My right hon. Friend is also aware of the facts stated in the third part of the question.
As regards the last part of the question, my right hon. Friend finds that the documents included in Command 3326 were precisely those documents which the Secretary of State at the time had promised to lay in response to a request by a Member of this House, and my right hon. Friend cannot agree that any information which should properly have been given to the House was withheld from it. As regards the Annual Report, he cannot find that the question of the inclusion of the agreement relating to the Turkish concession was ever considered.