§ Lord Balnielasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will make a statement about the detention of four British ships in the Great Bitter Lakes, and about the wellbeing of the crews.
§ Mr. William RodgersOn his recent visit to the United Arab Republic Sir Harold Beeley took up the matter with the Egyptians. The present crews have been on board since 24th August and my right hon. Friend instructed Sir Harold Beeley to visit them, which he did on 19th October. I am glad to say that he reported that morale is high and supply problems have been solved with the cooperation of the Egyptian authorities. Only one complaint was made about delay in homeward mail and this is being looked into.