§ 56. Mr. ANDERSONasked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the statement that the Nobel Trust Company, Limited, are unable to make out a complete balance-sheet owing to the shares which the company hold in German dynamite and explosives companies; whether the Nobel Company have approached the Government for permission to open up negotiations through a neutral country with their German co-shareholders; whether he can indicate the extent of the Nobel shareholding in German explosive concerns; and what answer the Government have made to any proposal made to them?
Mr. RUNCIMANMy attention has not been called to a statement that the Nobel Dynamite Trust Company, Limited, is unable to make out a complete balance-sheet owing to the shares which it holds in German dynamite and explosives companies. The company has, however, been given permission by the Home Office to enter into negotiations with a view to divesting itself of the shares which it holds in German explosives companies, but I am not at present prepared to state the exact amount of the holding in such companies.