711.4112A/37
The Ambassador in Great Britain ( Houghton ) to the Secretary of State
[Received February 13.]
Sir: I have the honor to state that in reply to a question asked in the House of Commons on January 30th, relating to the conclusion of a new Arbitration Treaty between Great Britain and the United States, the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs stated that during the last few weeks further replies had been received from the Dominion Governments, so that now all of the Government’s inquiries had been answered except by one Dominion. Sir Austen Chamberlain continued by stating that His Majesty’s Government was engaged in careful examination of the observations of the Dominions and the offices of His Majesty’s Government in the United Kingdom, as [Page 952] the highest importance was attached to obtaining complete agreement, and that further exchanges of opinion would be necessary before a definite reply could be reached. Sir Austen Chamberlain concluded that he regarded this Arbitration Treaty as of particular importance since it would presumably form a model for many others.16
I have [etc.]
Counselor of Embassy
- In a memorandum of Oct. 8, 1929, the Chief of the Western European Division (Marriner) recorded a conversation in which Mr. R. L. Craigie, head of the American Division of the British Foreign Office, said that the long delay in replying to the American position was due to a reexamination in the Foreign Office of the whole arbitration policy. No further communication on the subject appears to have been made by the British Government.↩