Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Commerce. – in the House of Commons at on 9 December 1929.
Sir Nicholas Grattan-Doyle
, Newcastle upon Tyne North
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether the International Convention of 1927 for the abolition of import and export prohibitions is yet in force; and, if not, whether any steps have been taken by the Governments which have ratified the convention to encourage additional ratifications?
Mr. A. HENDERSON:
The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative, but a conference is now meeting in Paris, at which His Majesty's Government are represented, to decide whether the Convention should be brought into force, although the necessary number of ratifications have not yet been deposited. At the last Assembly, the British delegation supported a Danish resolution to the effect that a commission be set up by the Council and the Assembly to accelerate the ratification of all League conventions.
Secretary of State was originally the title given to the two officials who conducted the Royal Correspondence under Elizabeth I. Now it is the title held by some of the more important Government Ministers, for example the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
