asked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether complaints have been received from tyre makers and makers of other rubber goods on the action taken by the Rubber Committee appointed by the Colonial Office in restricting the output of rubber; and whether, since the activities of such Committee in a Government Department is a new departure in interfering with the normal course of supply and demand, and since the general effect of the advice or activities of the said Committee has been to force up prices, he will say whether by the Committee's action the Colonial Department can guarantee rubber price stability?

Representations have been received from manufacturers of rubber goods in regard to the effect of the rubber export restriction policy adopted by the late Government on the advice of the Committee referred to. The purpose of this policy is to secure, as far as possible, a stabilised price for crude rubber at a level at which it will return a reasonable profit to the growers, and my Noble Friend has every hope that the policy, which has the approval of the Colonial Governments concerned, will be successful.