§ 41. Mr. BOWERMANasked the Minister of Agriculture if he is aware that a series of road maps of England are being produced on the Continent by a Continental firm of tyre manufacturers and sold in this country in direct competition with maps produced by the Government Survey Department and also British firms of map publishers; that these maps are copies from the Ordnance Survey maps prepared at considerable public expense, and that, when permission was given originally by the responsible British Government authorities, this work was produced by printing firms in this country; and whether it will be made a condition, in order that British labour should be employed as far as possible, that all maps sold in this country based on information supplied by the Ordnance Department should be produced in this country?
§ The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Guinness)I am aware that the 1899 position generally is as stated in the first two parts of the question. The firm in question complies with the usual conditions of permission for reproduction from Ordance Survey maps, including the payment of a royalty as compensation for the selling competition of the maps with those of the Ordnance Survey. Provided the firm comply with all the prescribed conditions, I do not think that the imposition of the requirement suggested by the right hon. Gentleman can be justified.