CO129-552-6 Traffic of arms to China 2-1-1935 - 27-12-1935 — Page 123

CONFIDENTIAL.

Annexe to Foreign Office Memorandum in connexion with

Item 3 of the Terms of Reference of the Royal

Commission of Enquiry into Private Manufacture of

and Trading in Arms.

Considerations taken into account in edvising on the

issue of licences for the export of war material from the

United Kingdom.

122

1

When advising on applications for licences for the export of war material from the United Kingdom consideration is

given in the Foreign Office, amongst other things, to the

conditions obtaining in the country to which the arms are to be

exported. The following cases are illustrative of this

principle:-

Revolution in Nicaragua, 1926.

2. Messrs. B.S.A. Guns Limited applied to the Board of

Trade in September 1926 for a licence to export rifles to a

government which had been set up in Nicaragua as the result of

a revolution. The Board of Trade were informed that the then

existing government in Nicaragua had not been recognised by His Majesty's Government and that as there would be an

inconsistency in sanctioning the export of arms to it, the

Foreign Office were not disposed to agree to the export of arms to Nicaragua until a government was in power which had been

recognised by His Majesty's Government.

Civil War in Afghanistan, 1929.

3c

In January 1929 the Afghan Minister called at the

Foreign Office and stated that he had received a private message from ex-King Amanulla instructing him to ascertain whether His Majesty's Government would render assistance by

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