Foreign Affairs, Mr. R. A. Butler, replying to a question in the House of Commons yesterday, stated that His Majesty's Government did not regard the secret Anglo-German convention of 1898, regarding the Portuguese Colonies, as having any operative force today.
When his attention was called to the statement by the Prime Minister of Portugal on October 16, that Britain was pledged to defend the Portuguese Colonies, he agreed that the declaration of October 1899 renewing the treaty of alliance with Portugal, as a guarantee of Portuguese Colonial possessions against attack, was still in force.
"It has been frequently stated," Mr. Butler added, "that His Majesty's Government has always admitted and still admits the validity of the treaties between themselves and Portugal"—Wireless and Reuter,
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.