RUSSIAN DEBATE

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 122, 27 May 1927, Page 8

RUSSIAN DEBATE

DANGER OF RUPTURE

LEAP INTO WHIRLPOOL

LLOYD GEORGE WARNS

(United Pr«s* Association.—Copyright.) (A.P.A. and "Sun.") (Received 27th May, 2 p.m.) LONDON, 26th May. Continuing his speech in the House of Commons on the debate on Russian relations, Mr. Lloyd George said that the rupture of relations with Russia carried obvious dangers, and he failed to see any obvious advantages. Having broken off relations with Russia, had tho Government considered how they would be resumed In case of—what they were waiting for—the return of the. Bomanoffs, they were throwing the bono of contention and trouble to Europe. It was a leap into the dark, a leap into a whirlpool. '•' ■> UXIOiriST AMENDMENT. Mr. G. S. Bontoul (C.) moved a Unionist amendment welcoming the Government 'a patience and forbearance and applauding the withdrawal of diplomatic privileges, which had been [gravely abused, and at the same time not putting any obstacle in the way of legitimate trading relations. [ Sir H. C. Hope (C.) seconded-this. j Mr. J. Maxton (Lab.) said that the Soviet's only serious fault was to "try. to copy the diplomatic methods of their preedcessors in Bussia and other capitalist Governments in Europe. I BUNS! FOR RUSSIAN BEAR. Commander Oliver Locker-Lamp'son I ,(C.) said: "We have at last got back the weapon of recognition and we ought to insist on reparation in full before the Reds are allowed to return to England. We have treated the Kusßian bear with buns, when he better understands the knout." ■ / Mr. Arthur Ponsonby (Lab.) said" that he was sure Sir Austen Chamber-1 lain regretted the- Cfbvernment's preci- i pitate step. Regarding: spies and lying i there was no, need to charge the Bus-j sians any more than others. Forgery theft, lying, bribery, and corruption existed in every Foreign Office and Chancellery the world wide. ■." • ■■ 1 + wri ß t °. y. Waß<"l'"<C-): "Y°i suggest that British representatives abroad partake of the same kind of propaganda as the Russians!" Uh foasonby:, "Our representatives would be neglecting their duty if they did not discover secrets." Sir Austen Chamberlain: "You are mistaken. It is not a part of our representatives' duty to act in that way." MR. PONSONBY RECALLS. Mr. Ponsonby continued:— ; 'In the course of my career I have j seen a document stqlen from the archives of a foreign country. I have' | travelled with a spy acting for a foreign Sovereign who was trying to obi tarn the dispatch I was carrying The more friendly the spy became, the. more tightly I held on to the despatches." He recalled in 1921 the then Home Secretary's statement regarding a forgery ■in. the Hussian newspaper "Pravda " when the head of the C.I.D. got' a machine to cut off the margin because it bore the name of an English printer Miss Susan Lawrence said that the government's decision would encourage the most dangerous elements in Russia ana results here would bo reflected in relieving offices and the Labour Exchanges and in other countries in' profit at our expense in the undeveloped markets of Bussia and China. Colonel Moore (C): "Th vis lesson will show the Russians that Britain will not tolerate interference with her Imperial and international affairs." ACTION ENDORSED BY HOUSE. . Tlie Government's decision in breaking off relations was endorsed by 367----votes to 118. ■■