asked the President of the Board of Trade if he intends to publish the report of his Department's inspector who is inquiring into certain matters connected with Messrs. A. Reyrolle & Co., Ltd.

As I informed the hon. Member for St. Marylebone (Sir W. Wakefield) on 21st June, certain representations on the matter had been received. These were referred to the inspector for a further report and I propose in due course to arrange for the inspector's reports to be published.

Can the Minister say if the report will be published in full or whether only extracts will be published?

I should like notice of that question, but I think the intention is to publish it in full.

asked the President of the Board of Trade what is the present position with regard to the negotiations for trade agreements with Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Yugoslavia.

Negotiations are in progress with these three countries but I am not in a position to make any statement at this stage.

Is there any likelihood of a decision being reached between now and the date when the House meets again?

I think it would be very unwise to attempt to speculate in that way when negotiations are still proceeding.

Can my right hon. Friend say whether the granting of tourists' allowances of currency to visit Yugoslavia is one of the things which might result from the successful conclusion of a trade agreement with that country?

I do not think that is one of the issues on which agreement has not yet been reached.

asked the President of the Board of Trade why inquiries about stocks of paper and board are sent so frequently to manufacturers of boxes and cartons; and whether he will give instructions to reduce the number of inquiries.

Certain returns are necessary in order to enable the Paper Control to assess the present rate of consumption of paper and board and the effect of the simplifications in paper licensing which came into force on 6th March and 3rd July of this year. Some of the returns are of a temporary character and I am doing all I can to reduce these to a minimum.

As the Paper Control has a complete record of imports and exports and of the allocation of paper to manufacturers, is it necessary that the returns should be asked for at monthly intervals since it is known what the general position is?

It is extremely important as soon as a control of this kind has been taken off to follow the position very carefully for a month or two to see if there is any big increase in consumption.

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the fact that the United Kingdom delegation only accepted the provisions of Article II of the Brussels Copyright Convention, 1948, on the understanding that His Majesty's Government remained free to enact such legislation as they might consider necessary in the public interest to prevent or deal with any abuse of the monopoly rights conferred upon the owners of copyrights by the law of the United Kingdom, he can state in what way this conditional acceptance is to be implemented; and, in particular, what steps are to be taken to ascertain whether any such abuse exists or is possible under present arrangements and, if so what kind of legislation is necessary to deal with it.

The object of the declaration referred to was to reserve the right of His Majesty's Government, notwithstanding the provisions of Article II, to take action to deal with any abuse of copyright monopoly rights, but it did not imply that any such legislation was actually called for in this country. Before the United Kingdom ratification of the Brussels Convention can be deposited, however, some amendments of existing copyright law will be necessary, and in this connection, I am considering whether it would be advisable to make a general inquiry into its working. The question whether there is any abuse in the exercise of the exclusive rights of public performance of musical works in this country such as would justify legislation, is, of course, one of the matters which could be dealt with in such inquiry.

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many firms have, through his suggestion, agreed to establish factories in the new towns.

If, as I assume, my hon. Friend is referring to the London new towns, my Department have approved the proposals of eight firms to establish new factories in these towns.

Is my right hon. Friend satisfied that in the direction of new factories, the correct balance is being held between the new towns and the development areas?

Yes, Sir, and I am in close touch with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Town and Country Planning on this matter.