asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will give an assurance that in any general naval disarmament negotiations the British Government will be prepared to proceed upon the basis of the restrictions imposed upon Germany in the Treaty of Versailles, provided that other nations agreed?

As there seems to be no prospect of securing a general international agreement on the basis of the qualitative and quantitative limits laid down in the naval clauses of the Versailles Treaty, I regret that I am unable to give the assurance indicated by the hon. Member.

Do I understand from that that even if all the other nations of the world were prepared to come to an arrangement on the basis of the Treaty of Versailles, the British Government would still hold out?

I should prefer to wait until the time when I saw all the other nations unanimous in a view of that kind.

Does not the right hon. Gentleman think it would be a great encouragement to the world if it were known that the British Government—

Order.

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will consider asking the president of the Disarmament Conference to call it together forthwith, with a view to achieving a convention covering the reduction and limitation of all armaments and armament expenditure of every kind, the abolition of certain specified weapons, the regulation of the manufacture of and the trade in arms, and the creation of an effective system of armament supervision and of security, with special consideration as to the possibility of establishing an international air police force; and whether the Government will take the initiative in bringing forward at it a detailed programme of their own on the lines of the British draft convention of March, 1933?

I have nothing to add to the reply which was given to a question which the hon. Member put on 5th June in regard to the resumption of discussions by the Disarmament Conference.

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that at a recent international conference of League of Nations Union Societies of the whole world a resolution was unanimously passed on the lines of the first part of this question, and would he be good enough to bear that in mind?

I certainly will bear a resolution of that kind in mind, but at the same time I still retain the view that no conference can hope to be successful that is not attended by the main Governments on whom disarmament depends.

Would my right hon. Friend also bear in mind that at a League of Nations Union special convention on aeronautical matters there was considerable divergence of view on all these matters, and that no decisions were come to on all these points?

Mr. VYVYAN ADAMS:

asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he now desires to make a statement on the measure of progress achieved in negotiating a general limitation of air armaments, together with a Western air pact of mutual guarantee?

I have nothing to add to the answer which I gave to the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Darwen (Sir H. Samuel) on 17th June.

Mr. ADAMS:

Can the right hon. Gentleman reassure us that His Majesty's Government still regard this question as being of extreme urgency?

Yes, Sir, certainly. We are doing everything in our power to expedite its discussion.