§ 46. Mr. HAMMERSLEYasked the Prime Minister if he is prepared to grant the request which he has received from the Federation of Master Cotton Spinners' Associations that the Government should immediately appoint a Commission to inquire into the relationship between national financial policy and industry?
§ 47. Lieut.-Colonel ACLAND-TROYTEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he will consider setting up a committee to inquire into the effects of the return to the gold standard on agriculture and other industries and to make recommendations as to the manner in which any adverse effects may be overcome?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI would commend to my hon. Friends' attention the conclusions arrived at on this subject by the Committee on Trade and Industry in their Final Report (Command Paper No. 3282) which has just been published. For the reasons they set out, I do not think that any useful purpose would be served by having a further inquiry on this subject, which would be much more likely to revive controversy than to produce any practical results.
§ Mr. HAMMERSLEYIs my right hon. Friend aware that the Cunliffe Committee, which was set up to deal with this question of industry and finance, did say in their first interim report that it was advisable to reconsider this matter 10 years after the end of the War; and does he think that that recommendation is upset in any way by the remarks of the Balfour Committee which is referred to in the reply, and which was not specifically asked to deal with this question of finance and industry?
§ Mr. CHURCHILLI am afraid I have not sufficiently addressed my mind to this somewhat complicated proposition.