asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether, as Germany has been defeated and no longer exists as a sovereign State, he will give instructions that the Geneva Convention shall no longer apply to German prisoners.

No, Sir. Germany has not ceased to exist as a State, though the exercise of supreme authority in Germany has been assumed by the Allied Powers. His Majesty's Government consider that it is right that the standards of the Geneva Convention should, so far as practicable in present circumstances, continue to apply to German prisoners.