§ 47. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether his attention has been called to the formation of a company known as the Consolidated Petroleum Company, in which equal shares will be held by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company and the Asiatic Petroleum Company, which latter in its turn is controlled by the Royal Dutch Shell; if he is aware that the new company is to acquire the whole of the distributing organisation of the Anglo-Persian Oil companies in South and East Africa, Egypt, the Soudan, Palestine and Syria, the Red Sea and Ceylon; what steps he is taking in the matter in view of the policy of His Majesty's Government in acquiring the original holding in the Anglo-Persian Company for the purpose of preserving the independence of that company; and what instructions have been given to the Government directors on the board of the Anglo-Persian Company?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLThe answer to the first two parts of the question is in the affirmative. His Majesty's Government were informed beforehand by the Government Directors of the proposed association. They satisfied themselves after full inquiry that it represented a transaction of a commercial character relating to certain marketing and distribution arrangements only and not in any way affecting the production of oil by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, and that it did not involve any interference with the independence of the Company. The Government Directors, who concurred in this view, were informed accordingly.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYDoes the right hon. Gentleman remember 690 that he himself took the initiative in investing Government money in this company, in order that it should be independent? How can it remain independent if its selling organisation is under the control of a foreign company?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI think an arrangement between two independent bodies for purposes mutually beneficial in regard to a very small portion of their transactions in no way affects the essential independence of either.
§ Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYIs the right hon. Gentleman not aware that this is not an arrangement in the sense that he uses the term, but that it is a case of handing over the whole of the distributing machinery of this large company and that that really takes away its independence altogether?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLNo, that really is not so. The matter has been most carefully considered from every point of view.
§ Sir HARRY BRITTAINIs it not a fact that those in charge of this company have always done all that they could to keep it British?
§ Mr. SHINWELLMay I ask if the original investment in the Anglo-Persian Oil Company was not based on the assumption that this was primarily a British concern, and can the right hon. Gentleman now regard it as primarily a British concern having regard to its association for distributive purposes with the Royal Dutch Company?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLYes, certainly. It remains in every sense a British concern and, I hope, a profitable one.