Import And Export Restrictions (Convention)
19.
asked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether Germany, Poland, Roumania and Czechoslovakia have yet ratified the Geneva Convention of 8th November, 1927, for the abolition of import and export prohibitions and restrictions?
I have been asked to answer this question. Poland and Czechoslovakia have not yet ratified the convention, while Germany and Rumania have ratified it. Under the terms of the Protocol which brought the convention into force, the latter countries need not remain bound by the provisions of the convention after 1st July, 1930, if Poland and Czechoslovakia have not ratified the convention by that date.
Then I understand that Germany has not recognised or signed the convention at all?
The hon. and gallant Member had better read my answer. I said: "Poland and Czechoslovakia have not yet ratified the convention, while Germany and Rumania have ratified it."
Is it in order, Mr. Speaker, for an hon. Member to put four starred questions for oral answer on the Paper?
I did not propose to call the fourth question.
65.
asked the President of the Board of Trade if he can give the dates of the signature by this country of the International Convention for the Abolition of Import and Export Prohibitions and Restrictions and of the agreement supplementary thereto?
The International Convention for the Abolition of Import and Export Prohibitions and Restrictions was signed at Geneva on 8th November, 1927, and the Supplementary Convention on 11th July, 1928. The Protocol bringing the Convention into force was signed on 20th December, 1929.
Is it a fact that the late President of the Board of Trade, the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Hendon (Sir P. Cunliffe-Lister), signed that Convention on behalf of this country?
I do not know who signed it, but it was approved by the late Government.
Can the hon. Member say whether this Convention is actually binding on His Majesty's Government at the present time—whether a sufficient number of countries have expressed their adherence to it to make it binding?
I understand under the Protocol, it was agreed to carry out the Convention if put in force, although the actual number of countries required originally for that purpose was one or two short of the number first agreed upon.
Can the hon. Member say how many countries are carrying it out?
Is it to be understood that this agreement is not actually binding at the moment?
No, Sir, it is binding for 18 months from the commencement of this year.
66.
asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, under the International Convention for the Abolition of Import and Export Prohibitions and Restrictions, this country is precluded from prohibiting the import of cereals from foreign countries on the ground that they are bounty-fed?
The Convention precludes prohibitions or restrictions on imports on the ground that they are bounty-fed.
In view of the importance of this matter to agriculture, will the hon. Gentleman be good enough to send a copy of his reply to the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Bewdley (Mr. S. Baldwin), so that he will be able to explain to the agricultural workers how the late Conservative Government were responsible for handicapping the farmers and farm workers?
Order!
Commercial Diplomatic Service (Appointments)
41.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he is yet in a- position to give detailed information of the new appointments foreshadowed by the Lord Privy Seal to the Trade Commissioner or other overseas trade service?
It is proposed to create eight new posts in the Commercial Diplomatic Service, one in each of the following countries: Argentina, Brazil, China for service in Manchuria, Colombia, Egypt, Finland, Persia and Switzerland, and two new Trade Commissioner posts, one each at Montreal and Durban. While for any of these appointments special consideration will be given to members of the Commercial Diplomatic, Trade Commissioner and Consular Services, as well as of the Civil Service generally, it has been decided to consider also applications from outside the Government service. An announcement giving details will appear in the Press at an early date. Particulars will also be obtainable from the Civil Service Commission and the Department of Overseas Trade. The recommendations for appointments will be made by a Selection Board consisting of a Member of this House, three representative business men, and one representative each from the Foreign Office, Board of Trade, Civil Service Commission and the Department of Overseas Trade. The Chairman of the Board will be the First Civil Service Commissioner.
Will there be any additions to the staff at home in connection with the new organisation.
Yes, Sir.
What will be the cost to the State of these 10 new appointments?
rose—
Answer!
Hon. Members prefer that their questions should be answered, before the intervention of another hon. Member with another supplementary question.
The payments will be according to the regular scale which, as the hon. Member is probably aware, is somewhere in the neighbourhood of about £1,600 with certain additions and allowances.
For each?
For each appointment.
Does the list which the hon. Gentleman has given exhaust the number of possible appointments or those likely to be made, in view of the large number of countries not yet covered adequately by consular representation?
I do not consider that it exhausts the possible appointments, but for the moment, these are the appointments which we regard as urgent.
Is the hon. Gentleman aware that there are in Persia, more consuls and vice-consuls than there are in Germany.
That question ought to be put on the Paper.
Austria (Report)
42.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department when the Report of the commercial attaché at Vienna on the trade and industrial conditions of Austria will be presented to Parliament?
The report on economic conditions in Austria prepared by the Commercial Secretary at Vienna was published by His Majesty's Stationery Office on 30th January. It is not customary for these reports to be presented to Parliament.
Has the report been made merely for the information of the hon. Gentleman's Department, or is it not to be submitted to the House, for the use of the whole country?
The report, has been published by the Stationery Office, and no doubt the hon. Gentleman can get a copy.
Germany (Steel Output)
43.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department if he has been provided with a recent Report on the output of steel in Germany during the past year; whether the actual production is equal to the best record of the pre-War period; and if he can furnish information on the extent to which technical improvements and the higher productive capacity of labour have contributed to this result?
The published official figures show an output for 1929 of 16,246,000 metric tons as compared with 17,147,000 metric tons for 1913 which was the year of greatest pre-War output within the former territorial limits. If the comparison, however, were confined to the territories within the present boundaries of Germany, it would be true that the pre-War production had been exceeded. My information shows that great technical progress has been made in recent years; but I am unable to measure the effect of the individual factors which have influenced the growth of the industry.
Has not the fiscal system of Germany been an important contributory factor in this connection?
British Industries Fair
44.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he is aware that, in connection with the British Industries Fair, the occupiers of stalls who make any sales of tobacco or other commodities by way of samples to visitors have to pay 10 per cent. of all takings to Messrs. Lyons and Company, who hold the catering contract, and, in addition, exhibitors are limited to the size of the articles they sell; and whether, considering that the exhibition is a national undertaking, he will take steps in future to ensure that no such conditions are allowed to exist?
My Department, as tenants at Olympia, are bound by a contract between the landlords of the premises and Messrs. J. Lyons and Company under which the latter have the sole right of sale at Olympia of food, beverages and tobacco. A special arrangement such as is mentioned by the hon. and gallant Member was the only means by which facilities for the sale of samples could be given to exhibitors of these commodities. I am satisfied that during the term of the contract these or analogous conditions must continue to exist.
Has not the hon. Gentleman received a great many complaints with regard to this arrangement from the Dominions and Colonies, and from representatives of the trades concerned?
No, I have received none at all.
47.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department, if his attention has been called to the German and American exhibits at the British Industries Fair; and what steps he is taking to confine the fair solely to British goods?
Yes, Sir, the matter is one which is watched by the organisers of both sections of the Fair with the utmost vigilance. Every exhibitor signs a declaration that the goods he proposes to exhibit are of British manufacture, and every effort is made both in London and Birmingham to see that this undertaking is carried out. During the present Fair my attention was called to two or three cases in which it was alleged that goods of foreign origin were being exhibited. In each case the matter was immediately looked into and appropriate action taken.
Will the hon. Gentleman investigate the several cases which have been brought to my notice, and see that publicity is given to the action that he takes?
I shall be obliged to the hon. Member if he will give the information, because both Committees are anxious to see that nothing of this kind occurs in future.
48.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department the number of invitations sent to Russia to attend the British Industries Fair, the number of acceptances he received, and the number of Russians who actually attended the fair?
In view of the fact that foreign trade in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics is a Government monopoly, invitations were sent to the Soviet Embassy in London. According to our records, one Russian attended the fair.
49.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he can make any statement as to the results of the British Industries Fair?
53.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he can make any statement as to the attendance and business done this year at the British Industries Fair by comparison with other years?
The figures for the London section of the fair were in round numbers as follow:
Visits of home buyers 150,000, against 111,000 in 1929. Visits of overseas buyers 4,800, against 3,700 in 1929. The public 51,000, against 32,000 in 1929. The Birmingham figures for all classes are 150,000, against 120,000 in 1929. Reports from both London and Birmingham indicate results comparing very favourably with business done last year.Has the decision taken last year by the hon. Gentleman's predecessors to hold this year's fair at Olympia been a wise one?
Certainly, it has been most successful, and has in every way worked very satisfactorily.
Can we hope that orders have been placed by the Russian Soviet delegation in Birmingham, in the heavy engineering section, for agricultural machinery?
I am afraid that I have no information on that point.
Export Credits (Russia)
50.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department the terms and conditions under which facilities under the exports credit scheme can be granted to exporters of goods to Soviet Russia, particularly as regards the time limit, the percentage of the risk which the exporter will have to carry, and the rate of interest charged per annum for the accommodation?
It is not the practice to publish the terms and conditions on which facilities under the export credits guarantee scheme are given in the case of particular countries or importers.
Is the hon. Gentle man aware that, because these figures are not made known, it is very detrimental to those who want to export goods to Russia; and is he also aware that Russian buyers are asking for five years' credit, and his Department is offering only 12 months?
In answer to the first part of the supplementary question, I would point out that if they apply to the Department, they can get the terms, but it is not considered that a public announcement is advisable.
Did they not apply in the case of the order for 3,000,000 pairs of boots from Northampton?
My information is that there was no definite application.
May I ask for an answer to the second part of my supplementary question?
The hon. Gentleman is trying to ask, in other words, the question which I have told him cannot be answered.
Is it not the policy of the Government to consider each individual application on its merits, and to treat Anglo-Russian transactions exactly the same as those of other countries?
Yes, that is the policy on broad lines, but it is rather different, seeing that the trade is in the hands of the Government in the case of Russia.
Is it not a fact that the hon. Gentleman and his Department have no confidence whatever as regards giving trade facilities to Russia?
Can the hon. Gentleman say why the same length of credit is not given to Russia as to other countries?
Yes, but that would mean my going into the reasons which actuate the committee.
Russia
51.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he has received any reports from our trade commissioners in Russia; and if so, whether it is intended to publish them?
Up to the present my Department has received from the Commercial Counsellor at Moscow seven despatches. They all deal with the specific business of individual firms, and as such are not suitable for publication.
Does the hon. Gentleman intend to publish the periodical reports issued by his Department in regard to Russian trade, as he does in regard to other countries?
I think that I must wait until I see the reports.
Is it the hon. Gentleman's intention to circulate these reports to manufacturers interested in Anglo-Russian trade?
I understand that, so far, these reports deal only with special applications made by firms, and I do not know that they would be of general interest to manufacturers.
In view of the importance of this matter, will the hon. Gentleman circulate as early as possible a re- port from the Trade Commissioners to those firms interested in Anglo-Russian trade?
I will certainly give careful consideration to that suggestion.
Railway Rolling Stock (Exports)
52.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he has yet personally discussed with British makers of railway rolling stock methods by which to secure orders for cars and locomotives such as those recently placed by the Council of Jamaica in the United States of America and by the South African Railways administration in Germany?
No, Sir, but I am in communication with British makers about the matter.
In view of the immense value of these rolling stock orders, does the hon. Gentleman not think that he might, on his own personal initiative, go down to see the manufacturers at Leeds, Manchester, and Glasgow in order to see if something can be done?
I am in communication with them, and I think that it is quite likely that there will be a meeting on the matter, but, if needful, I shall be quite prepared to do what the hon. Gentleman suggests; I will give it my careful consideration.
Raw Wool (Imports And Exports)
64.
asked the President of the Board of Trade the quantity and value of raw wool exported from and imported into each of the Dominions, into and out of India, and of each foreign country for which returns are available for each of the last three years?
The particulars regarding quantities desired by the hon. and gallant Member are shown on pages 454–8 of the International Yearbook of Agricultural Statistics published by the International Institute of Agriculture. As long tables of figures are involved, with the concurrence of the House I will forward a copy of the tables to the hon. and gallant Member. The institute do not publish information regarding values of raw wool.
Anglo-German Commercial Treaty
67.
asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state the date of the ratification of the existing commercial treaty between England and Germany; and whether under the Anglo-German Commercial Treaty the Government is prohibited from imposing a countervailing duty on bounty-fed cereals imported into this country from Germany as distinct from non-bounty-fed cereals of a like nature from other countries?
Ratifications of the Anglo-German Commercial Treaty were exchanged on 8th September, 1925. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative.
Do I understand that the Convention has tied the hands of the present Government and that this is due to the action of the previous Tory Government?
I cannot allow further supplementaries to this question, as the hon. Member has extended the scope of it far beyond the original question.
But may I raise the point on the Adjournment?