India
1.
asked the Secretary of State for India whether he has received a copy of the resolution recently passed by the India section of the Manchester Chamber of Commerce in connection with the guarding of the mutual trade between Great Britain and India against suppression and injury; and, if so, what action he proposes to take in respect of such resolution?
I have received the resolution. As to the second part of the question, I would refer the right hon. Member to the reply given by the Prime Minister last Tuesday to the hon. and learned Member for Moss Side (Sir G. Hurst).
I have read that answer, but will the right hon. Gentleman use his influence at the Conference in the direction of helping the Lancashire cotton industry?
The Conference is intended to promote good will between this country and India, and this is the best way of helping trade.
Antwerp Exhibition (British Section)
20.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he has any statement to make to the House regarding the results achieved by the British section of the Antwerp Exhibition?
The British section of the International Colonial and Maritime Exhibition, which closed at Antwerp on the 4th November, achieved an unqualified success. Tributes to the splendid impression created by the British exhibit have been received from Belgians of all ranks. The total attendance at the Exhibition is reported to have been more than 10,000,000 persons, of which approximately 7,000,090 are stated to have passed through the British pavilion. British commercial exhibitors in the pavilion have reported almost unanimously their satisfaction with the results of their participation, which in many cases far exceeded their expectations.
To what use is the British pavilion being put after the Exhibition is closed?
I understand that it is being pulled down.
Development Of Overseas Trade Council
21.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department what steps are being taken to make known the conclusions arrived at and the information obtained by the Development of Overseas Trade Council to the manufacturers and trading community?
The decisions of the Development Council are communicated to the public either by means of statements on the Floor of the House or through the Press. On the return of trade missions initiated by the Council, reports will be published as soon as possible. Arrangements are also being made for the communication to the manufacturers and traders concerned of the information collected. For example, it has been arranged that Lord Kirkley and his colleagues on the Government Trade Mission to South Africa which has just returned, shall address meetings of business men in Manchester, Birmingham and Newcastle, and shall also meet several of the leading trade associations.
Is the hon. Gentleman satisfied that the valuable information collected by the Council and the conclusions to which they arrive are put at the disposal of everyone concerned?
We are constantly considering that matter, and are trying to find means by which it is possible to make them available to the public and the Press.
Are the information and the conclusions reached by the Council circulated to the firms whose names are on the special list?
I cannot say definitely without notice whether this information is, but I have no doubt that that is the object of the circular, and that the information available will be given to them.
South-West Africa
22.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department the value of the imports of the mandated territory of South-West Africa from the United Kingdom, the United States, and Germany, respectively, in the years 1928 and 1929; and if he will indicate any special measures adopted by His Majesty's Government to extend the trade of Great Britain in that territory?
As the reply, which in-eludes a number of figures, is rather long, I propose, with the hon. Member's consent, to circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Is it not a fact that the German trade is constantly on the increase, and what steps are the Department taking to secure that our trade gets fair play?
When the hon. Member gets the answer, he will see what we are doing. We constantly have the point before us.
Russia
23.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether British firms are permitted to display poster and newspaper advertisements for British products in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics; and, if not, what means they are allowed to adopt to make their products known to the Russian people?
Poster, newspaper and other advertisements are accepted in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics from foreign firms by a special State Bureau, in which such business is centralised.
Having regard to the fact that no advertisements of British companies are allowed in Soviet Russia, does not the hon. Gentleman think it desirable to say that we cannot go on allowing Russian oil products to be sold here[Interruption.)
24.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether he is yet in a position to inform the House what are the exceptional cases in which British firms may by special permission sell direct to wholesalers and retailers in the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics?
As the answer to the question asked by the, hon. Member is rather long, I will, with his permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
Can the hon. Gentleman say whether the answer which he gave last week was authoritative or not?
I have no doubt that it was.
26.
asked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department if the Cuban sugar bought by the Soviet Government and brought here to be refined is guaranteed in full under the exports credit scheme or whether the refining charges only are guaranteed?
The guarantees given under the Export Credits Guarantee Scheme in connection with the export of sugar to Russia covered a proportion of the bills of exchange drawn in respect of the full cost of the shipments.
That is to say, that the sugar is bought by Russia in Cuba, and that our credit was used to guarantee the payment for it?
The guarantees were given on a transaction which covers the cost of the purchase of the sugar as well as the expenditure of refining it.
Is it not a fact that some of the sugar so bought has now been sent hack to England to be sold again against our own products?
I do not think that that is so; I think that the hon. Gentleman has been misinformed.
Has the hon. Gentleman's attention been called to a statement on this very point which was made by the Prime Minister on the 4th November?
Will the hon. Gentleman consider the effect of this guarantee on our own sugar manufacturers?
Was not the object of this transaction to withdraw from the sugar pool a large quantity of sugar, and were not the producers of sugar thereby benefited?
The object of the transaction was to give work to British refiners.
British Cotton Goods (Nyasaland)
43.
asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has yet investigated the reasons for the fall of the proportion of United Kingdom cotton goods entering Nyasaland to about one-third of what it was five years ago and the reasons why the importations of similar foreign cotton goods have doubled in that period; and if he will examine the Congo Basin treaties to ascertain whether they operate to the disadvantage of United Kingdom goods?
The decline in the exports of United Kingdom cotton piece goods to Nyasaland and other British territories in East Africa has for some years received the close attention of the Department of Overseas Trade, which has furnished special reports on the subject to the cotton industry in this country, but there do not appear to be any special reasons for this decline other than those which have, unfortunately, led to reductions in such exports to many other destinations. As regards the second part of the question, I think there is a fairly wide consensus of opinion that en balance the Congo Basin Convention is of advantage to the trade of this country.
Is it not the case that the principal competitor is Japan, and that the wages paid there are less than half what they are in this country?