Mr. Creech Jonesasked the Prime Minister if he can make any statement regarding a meeting of representatives of Britain, Russia, U.S.A. and China at Washington next month to discuss the problem of mandates and machinery for colonial accountability under the United Nations; and who will represent Britain in these discussions.
§ The Prime MinisterI am not yet in a position to make any statement on this subject. I take this opportunity, however, to make it clear that matters affecting British Colonial territory will not be discussed at San Francisco or at any meeting in connection with that Conference. Questions affecting mandated territories evidently require examination in view of the lapse of the League of Nations from which the mandates were held. This does not imply that His Majesty's Government have in any way committed themselves upon such an issue. Questions also arise of the terms which should regulate the disposition of captured enemy or enemy-mandated territory, particularly islands in the Pacific which have a strategic value for the peace of the world.