asked the President of the Board of Trade whether decisions reached at the International Trade Conference at Geneva will be published for discussion before being implemented.

The forthcoming meeting at Geneva of the Preparatory Committee of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Employment will, it is hoped, result in approval on behalf of the member countries of a draft charter for an international trade organisation as well as agreements on specific tariff questions. It is likely that, while the charter cannot be finally approved until the United Nations Conference itself has been held, some of its provisions will be included in an interim agreement covering also the results of the tariff negotiations. The principal object of this interim agreement would be to implement the result of the tariff negotiations. Since this would require Parliamentary sanction, there would naturally be an opportunity for discussion of the whole agreement before its coming into force.

Does the right hon. and learned Gentleman realise—I am sure he does—that this is a major operation ant that the eyes of the primary producers of the Empire are upon him? Will he give an assurance that those interests will be properly safeguarded?

Representatives of the Empire will, of course, be present in Geneva. As the hon. and gallant Gentleman knows, we have already had a long conference here with Dominion and other Empire producers.

Can the right hon. and learned Gentleman say how long the conference is likely to last?

I am not a prophet.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will withdraw the instructions that coupons must be surrendered for articles sold at jumble sales, bazaars, &c., in cases where such articles are gifts from donors who have already surrendered coupons for them or are articles made from unrationed material or by the remaking of second-hand clothes.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will encourage the thrifty conversion of outworn clothes during the prolonged scarcity of new clothes by amending the Consumer Rationing Order to exempt from coupons remade garments at sales of work organised for charitable purposes.

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply given to similar Questions on Tuesday last.

Why should the Government be so slow in removing a control which is merely exasperating hard-working and thrifty ladies and serving no useful purpose?

There is an extreme shortage of clothing.

Is that not a reason why they should be allowed to convert existing clothing into something useful?

We should then nave an unequal distribution.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is satisfied that the Travel Association fully appreciate the importance of a knowledge of languages in staffing its new Tourist Information Centre; and how many languages are spoken by the staff at that centre.

I am informed that the foreign languages spoken by the staff of the centre are French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Dutch, Hungarian and Urdu.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the effect of the fuel crisis on production is yet sufficiently established for him to make a definite announcement of the period for which the present issue of clothing coupons will have to last.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he intends in the near future to raise the clothing ration allowances.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the decrease in output of cotton yarn, which during the fuel crisis fell to one-third of current normal production, will affect the present or future issues of clothing coupons and the maintenance of exports.

Yes, Sir. The loss of production in the cotton and wool industries over the winter period will amount to about two months' output in all, and the present issue of 32 coupons will therefore have to be made to last until the end of October. The loss of production extends also to production for export.

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman concentrate all his energy upon increasing supplies to the textile industry, with a view to a betterment of the output of household goods?

I am doing that at the present moment.

Can the right hon. and learned Gentleman tell us why, in view of the alarming announcement he has just made, he is taking steps to encourage the export of cotton yarn at the present time?

I am not.

Is it not a fact that the right hon. and learned Gentleman has been offering an increasing inducement to spinners in respect of exports?

I made an announcement some time ago in the House about the relationship between the export trade and the home trade, and that relationship is being observed.

Is not the right hon. and learned Gentleman aware that while coupons may be made to extend for another two months, the clothing which they might be used to replace will not?

It depends upon the quality of their manufacture.

asked the President of the Board of Trade why more than 1,000 British-made houses have recently been exported to Holland.

The export of these houses was approved over a year ago in response to an urgent appeal by the Dutch for assistance in repairing devastation from war operations. The houses are not of a type selected for the British housing programme and do not include most of the fitments in short supply in this country. The Dutch are themselves providing the whole of the timber work.

Why are licences prohibited in regard to the sale of this type of house?

It is not one of the types selected for use in this country.

Can the right hon. and learned Gentleman give any reason why these houses were turned down? Is it not a fact that the price of them is considerably less than the prices of types adopted?

That question should be addressed to the Minister of Health and not to me.

Is it not a fact that tenants of these houses have had to pay considerable sums of money in repairs?

Could not some of these houses be made available to farmers and landowners for their farm workers?

That question should be addressed to the Minister of Health.

Will my right hon. and learned Friend bear in mind that these houses require a large number of fittings such as are urgently required in this country, and materials as well, and. therefore, they must be exported?

I pointed out in the original answer that these houses do not include most of the fittings which are in short supply.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many timber houses have been exported from this country since 1st January, 1946; to what countries they have been sent; and what was the average price and the number of standards of timber used in their construction.

So far as I am aware, none, Sir. The rest of the Question does not, therefore, arise.

Will the Minister say whether there was no timber at all in the houses supplied, because the contrary has definitely been stated?

So I have been informed. The Dutch are supplying all the timber required.

asked the President of the Board of Trade, why he has refused licences to import leather from Canada and at the same time sanctioned the purchase of shoes amounting to over 500,000 dollars.

Imports of leather from Canada are now being licensed at the same rate as in 1946, but the whole leather import programme is at present under review. The imports of shoes which are permitted from Canada are about half the prewar imports by value, and in number represent only a very small proportion of United Kingdom production.

Will the Minister say why he refused to give permission to import leather whilst, at the same time, he allowed the import of finished shoes?

The leather which comes from Canada is a balancing leather which depends upon the quantity of hides which we have here for tanning, and in that period the balancing leather was not required.

Will the right hon. and learned Gentleman say why he permits the import of 600,000 hides from the Argentine, which is a hard currency country, while, at the same time, refusing imports from Canada?

They are different qualities of leather.

asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will revise the recent decisions as to the allocation of newsprint so that the increases granted to the daily newspapers shall apply pari passu to the weekly newspapers.

asked the President of the Board of Trade on what grounds discrimination is being exercised against local weekly newspapers, whose recent pre-fuel crisis allocation of paper is only being restored in part, whilst that of daily newspapers is being restored in full.

I would refer the hon. Members to the reply given to the hon. and gallant Member for Penrith and Cockermouth (Lieut.-Colonel Dower) on 1st April.

But does my right hon. Friend recall that the main argument which he advanced in favour of this differentiation was that the recent allocation was unfair only if related to wartime consumption, but not if related to prewar consumption? As the wartime cut was on the basis of what the weeklies could afford, surely it is the prewar—

Argument is not a question.

Is the Minister aware that the allocations made to these papers may have no relation to the coal supplies delivered and allocated to the mills?

I have gone into the question of the paper and coal supplies with the English paper mills, and I hope that something is being done to assist them.

Does not my right hon. Friend agree that, in view of what I just attempted to point out to him, the fair thing would be to use not the prewar basis of consumption as the ratio for subsequent concessions, but the wartime allocation?

No, Sir. We believe that the system which has been worked out by the Newspaper Proprietors' Association is the best.

asked the President of the Board of Trade the present position regarding the supply of glycerine to chemists' shops.

Retail chemists draw their glycerine from wholesale chemists who are allocated supplies on the basis of the amount which they received during 1945, plus a current increase of 10 per cent.

Is the Minister aware that many people are experiencing great difficulty in obtaining glycerine, and will be give the matter his further consideration?

I am afraid that, in view of the shortage of oils and fats, that is all the glycerine that is available.

Are we not exporting a great deal?

I think not.

asked the President of the Board of Trade, now that the experiments at the Wye Mill, Shaw, have been stopped because the Oldham Cardroom Association objected to time and motion study among the cardroom workers, what action he proposes to take to arrange suitable standards of improving labour deployment in the cotton-spinning industry in accordance with the recommendations of the Working Party.

The experiments at the Wye Mill, Shaw, have been modified, but not, I understand, wholly stopped. In addition, several experiments of a similar nature are now proceeding under the auspices of the Cotton Board in other mills. The outcome of these experiments will be made known to the industry in due course and I hope it will be possible to reach agreement for their more general application in such a manner as will lead to an improvement in production.

Can the Minister say whether the experiments carried out by the mills exactly replace the experiments stopped or modified at the Wye Mill?

So I understand.

Will the Minister read the two speeches made by the hon. Member for Bolton (Mr. J. Jones) in connection with the restrictive practices, of which this may be an instance?