asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs what steps he is taking to rehabilitate the 2,500 Maltese in Tripolitania who were forcibly evacuated to Italian concentration camps during the war and have now been returned; and what compensation is being awarded them for all they lost during the war in Tripoli.

The sum of £16,000 was made available for rehabilitation on 24th May, 1950. The question of war damage compensation is for the Government which succeeds the present Administration to decide.

Does the hon. Gentleman realise that there are some 300 Maltese still in refugee camps in Tripoli, and that something like 80 per cent of the 2,500 Maltese are in an indigent position? Does he not think it is our duty, as these are British subjects, to do something about it before we hand over to a new Government?

I think my answer indicated that we have been doing something. The Administration has been making some provision for this, and this sum of £16,000 has now been made available. The bigger question of war compensation must be a question for succeeding Governments.

Would it not be a question for any form of peace treaty?

The peace treaties have not, in our view, made provision of the kind which the hon. Gentleman has in mind.