Gautemala’s Claim to Honduras Denied by Britain

Grey River Argus, 12 November 1948, Page 7

Gautemala’s Claim to Honduras Denied by Britain

LONDON, Nov. 8. The British Government has emphasised, in its reply to Guatemala, whose Government sent a Note regarding the ownership of British Honduras, that only" if the International Court at The Hague ruled that British Honduras legally was not British territory would Britain consider surrendering any part of British Honduras. The reply said that it .was clear that the Guatemalan Government was not prepared to face a legal judgment of its claim. The British Government, however, could not see that mediation could 1 succeed as long as Guatemala claimed that British Honduras was legally Guatemalan territory, whereas Britain denied that claim. The British Government, in submitting to the rule of international law, its claim to British Honduras, which had been in its possession for more than one hundred years, had acted in a manner which had few, if any parallels in history. .