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CHANNEL TUNNEL

(4) Agreed that the Minister of Defence should announce that day in the House of Commons that the garrison of Hong Kong was being reinforced and should give an indication of the nature of the reinforcements that were being sent.

3. THE LORD PRESIDENT asked whether the Cabinet considered that Parliamentary time should be made available for the discussion of a motion which had been tabled in the House of Commons by Mr. C. N. Shawcross, M. P., and others, suggesting that His Majesty's Govern- ment should propose to interested European Governments the institution of a joint examination of the project for constructing a tunnel under the English Channel.

It was the view of the Cabinet that the proposers of this motion should be informed that it was not practicable to find Parliamentary time for a debate on this subject. Before any question arose of under- taking joint discussions with European Governments, His Majesty's Government should first take steps to define their own attitude towards this project.

The Cabinet

(1) Agreed that no facilities should be afforded

for Parliamentary discussion of the motion tabled by Mr. C. N. Shawcross, M. P., and others.

(2)

Took note that the Prime Minister would take

steps to appoint a suitable Committee to consider the strategic, economic and social aspects of the project for the construction of a Channel Tunnel and would arrange for the Committee's findings to be brought before the Cabinet.

WAR CRIMES

Trial of

German

Generals in

.British Custody

(Previous Reference: C. M. (49) 30th Conclusions, Minute 3)

LL.

The Cabinet considered a memorandum by the Lord Chancellor (C. P. (49) 97) reporting the results of his special enquiry into the question whether Field Marshal von Rundstedt and Colonel-General Strauss were physically fit to stand the strain of a war-crimes trial.

THE LORD CHANCELLOR said that he had examined the medical witnesses in consultation with the Attorney- General and Professor Sir Henry Cohen, Professor of Medicine at Liverpool University. Their unanimous con- clusion was that Field Marshal von Rundstedt and Colonel- General Strauss were unfit to stand trial. For the reasons set out in C. P. (49) 90 he thought that the Government should themselves assume the responsibility for deciding this issue; and he recommended that in the debate on war crimes policy in the House of Lords that afternoon he should announce that the Government had decided that these two Generals were not physically fit to be put on trial. He thought it would be advisable to make it clear that this decision had been reached on the strength of a report which he had made to the Cabinet and in which the Attorney-General and Professor Cohen had concurred. He proposed to indicate at the same time that the indictment against Field Marshal von Manstein would be served in the near future.

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