HC Deb 29 November 1934 vol 295 cc1137-52

10.24 p.m.

The MINISTER of AGRICULTURE (Mr. Elliot)

I beg to move, That the Potato (Import Regulation) Order, 1934, dated the twenty-ninth day of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, made by the Board of Trade under the Agricultural Marketing Act, 1933, a copy of which was presented to this House on the thirty-first day of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, be approved. The Order which I have now the honour to move is an Order under the Marketing Act, 1933. It covers the importation of potatoes, and the purpose of the Order is really explained fairly clearly in the document which has been laid before the House. The reason for it is, as the House knows, that the potato growers, having suffered a great deal in recent years from the very wide fluctuations in price caused by relatively small fluctuations in the quantity of their crop reorganised, and the scheme was passed through this House and afterwards accepted by the trade. It was clear that some regulation of the imports would be necessary if this organisation were to function efficiently. That was anticipated so long ago as the 11th February, 1931, when legislation to that effect was embodied in the statement on agricultural policy made to this House. The object is to control the potato surplus to the requirements of the market in years of heavy crops. In the 10 years 1923–24 to 1932–33 the potato crop in Great Britain varied between 4⅓ million to 5½ million tons, not a very wide range of variation, but during that period the price per ton varied between over £8 a ton to £2 6s. a ton. Clearly, that variation is very wide and quite out of proportion to the variation in the quantity of the product. Consequently, the growers themselves, having organised, desire to bring into that organisation the imports also.

The imports into this country were regulated for some time under voluntary arrangements. That is about to be made statutory by the Order that has been laid. In making it statutory the Board of Trade gave due consideration to the interests not only of the producers but also of the distributors and of the consumers in this country, and satisfied themselves, as they had to do under the Act, that the regulation was necessary in order to secure that the organisation set up by the producers in this country shall function efficiently. I think it may be said that we have had the fullest consultations with all the interests concerned. The matter has gone to an impartial body set up under the Act of 1931, the Market Supply Committee, presided over by Lord Linlithgow, whose experience in these matters is very well known, with representatives of all interests upon the Committee but no representatives, so far as I know, of the producers interested on the Committee.

The Market Supply Committee recommended that a scheme on these lines should be brought forward, and the Order was worked out in consultation actually with the distributive trades concerned. The Order provides that the importers desiring to import potatoes may obtain licences either from their trade association, which has been incorporated for this purpose or, to avoid any possibility of discrimination by trade rivals against one of their number, by direct, licence from the Board of Trade. Therefore, an appeal in case of any suspected injustice lies to no interested party but to a Government Department, and one of the objections which was made to the issue of home licences does not arise. The desirability of working in conjunction with the trade is clear, and that is the reason why, in the first place, we wish to issue the licences as far as possible through the organisation of the trade themselves. Further, the interests of individual traders and of the public are safeguarded by nomination of two members by the Board of Trade to the Council of the Potato Importers' Association, that is to say, the organisation concerned, and by the attendance of officials of the Board of Trade, of the Ministry of Agriculture and of the Market Supply Committee at meetings of the Council. The fact that we have been able to satisfy the interests concerned is clear. Only two importers have asked the board for a licence, the others being all obtained through the trade organisation. The minor provisions of the Order also make it clear that there is no attempt to alter the position of potatoes imported for re-exportation after transit in the United Kingdom.

Finally, it will be seen that mention is made of the Irish Free State. That is not with any idea of discriminating against the Irish Free State. It simply bears witness to the fact well known to most hon. Members, that the potato is a very important crop in the island of Ireland. It is a large potential supplier, and power is taken to regulate imports from that source of supply purely on the position of the market and not with any object of discriminating in any way against that country. I have done my utmost to speak briefly on this matter. There may be other points which I have missed, and in that case I shall be glad to deal with them later. I do not wish to delay the House. We all know the importance of the potato crop and that it has been under regulation for some time. There has been no complaint, so far as I know, that prices have been unduly raised or that the consumer has suffered in any way, while the producers have received much more satisfactory prices for their product since there has been some organisation in the trade.

Mr. BUCHANAN

What evidence is there to show that the producers have received any benefit?

Mr. ELLIOT

I have the prices here. In the week ending 24th October, 1933, the King Edward variety was fetching 73s. 6d. a ton. In 1934 it was fetching 92s. 6d. I can give figures of that order all the way through, and a rise from 70s. to 90s. has not so far been reflected in the price to the consumer. At any rate, I have received no complaints. That being so, I hope it will be possible for the House to give us the Order.

Mr. D. REID

There is, I understand, an arrangement between the Government, of Northern Ireland and the right hon. Gentleman about the export of potatoes from Northern Ireland. I presume there is nothing which alters that arrangement?

Mr. ELLIOT

No, nothing at all.

10.34 p.m.

Dr. ADDISON

The Opposition do not propose to object to the passing of this Order, because we see signs of grace in it. It shows that the sheer logic of events is gradually influencing the minds of hon. Members opposite, and that there is in this Order the beginnings of an organised licensing system, which some day or other, when it is consolidated in other associations, will, I hope, emancipate this country from the quackeries of tariffs. For that reason and with that hope in our minds we are not objecting to the inauguration of a system of this kind. But in saying that, so far as the Opposition are concerned, the right hon. Gentleman will not expect me to withdraw at all from our general views on what ought to be done in this connection, or from our view of any attempt to influence or manipulate prices by artificial restriction, which we think is the wrong way of doing it.

Mr. DINGLE FOOT

Is not an import board an artificial restriction?

Dr. ADDISON

If the hon. Gentleman will allow me to finish my sentence he will have a little more illumination on the subject. Our view is that if we want to produce a fair standard price for the home consumer there must be an internal organisation to see that the producer gets that price. That means something much more elaborate and more detailed than a mere licensing system. But we see a gleam of hope arising from this method of dealing with imports.

10.37 p.m.

Sir PERCY HARRIS

There is some satisfaction arising from this Order, in that we now see the spiritual affinity between the Minister and the right hon. Member for Swindon (Dr. Addison)—the happy pair, getting closer and closer together, the "new dispensation." The right hon. Member for Swindon is satisfied with his right hon. Friend. I much appreciate the courtesy of the Minister in explaining to the ordinary layman, the mere townsman, all the implications of this Order. I would make a suggestion, and I hope I have the House with me, irrespective of anyone's attitude towards these Orders. When these Orders are issued as a sort of edict from the Government they should be accompanied by facts and figures and details in the form of a White Paper. As Members of the House we are overburdened with duties and responsibilities because of the number of Bills that we have to consider. So heavy is our burden that this Session private Members have been robbed of their rights. With the great snowball of documents and Orders and Regulations from the various Government Departments it is very difficult for Members to be present and hear all the discussions and the statements of Ministers. There is a very small House at the moment. This is a day of public rejoicing, when most of us would like to be on holiday celebrating a great event.

Very few members have heard the statement of the Minister. The trade interests cannot see that statement unless they pay 6d. for the OFFICIAL REPORT of our proceedings, for at 11 o'clock at night Debates of this kind get very little publicity in the newspapers. Some day the right hon. Gentleman who was a very good Minister of Agriculture under a previous Labour Government may occupy that position again and he will be only too willing to quote the example of the right hon. Gentleman opposite in this connection. He will say that a Conservative Minister of Agriculture did not trouble to spend money on printing but was content to put forward proposals of this kind in a few words late at night. I do not think it is unreasonable to ask the Minister to follow the early precedents in this House in connection with the issue of Orders. When the Orders made in connection with the Traffic Advisory Committee were issued full details and figures were supplied to the House. Being curious about this matter, I have looked up some of the figures in connection with it. I asked what was the real implication of this Order? Had there been a very large importation of foreign potatoes? I took the latest figures for the ten months period. Possibly I would have been better advised to have taken the year but I think that these figures which I am about to give are more or less correct.

I find that the quantity of potatoes imported during 10 months in 1932 was 15,000,000 cwt. In 1933, no doubt due to the policy of the Government, that had dropped to 3,800,000 cwt. and in 1934 to about 3,000,000 cwt. in round figures. Therefore, it is not the quantity of the importation which makes it necessary to embark on this policy of licensing. The figures of value have dropped also. The value in 1932 was nearly £6,000,000; in 1933 it was £2,000,000 and in 1934 £2,087,000. In other words there has been a tremendous drop in the importation of potatoes from abroad—I suppose under the machinery of duties and so forth. Then we must examine from where do these potatoes come. An hon. Member has asked a question about Ireland. I find that in the ten months of 1932 there was imported from the Irish Free State over 500,000 cwt. of potatoes. There has been a drop from that figure to the insignificant figure of 61,000 cwt. while the value has dropped from £173,000 to £9,000.

I turn to another part of the British Empire—because, rightly or wrongly, in spite of what is going on there, the Irish Free State is still part of the British Commonwealth. Take the Channel Islands. In that case the quantities imported have risen from 1,000,000 cwt. in 1932 to 1,300,000 cwt. In other words the drop in importation from the Irish Free State is more than made up by the additional imports from the Channel Islands. I ask the right hon. Gentleman why, if it is necessary to licence importers from the Irish Free State, is it not equally necessary to licence importers from the Channel Islands? There is no catch in the question. I am asking it for the information of myself, and of my colleagues who are interested in these matters. When we come to the foreign countries, there is also a very significant change. The principle source of supply two years ago was the Netherlands, the importation from which has almost completely disappeared, but there is now a considerable importation from Spain, I understand.

Major HILLS

New potatoes.

Sir P. HARRIS

Yes. Is there any reason why one policy should be adopted in the Channel Islands and another in the Irish Free State? If there is some simple explanation, I shall be satisfied. Imports bear, even in exceptional years, a very small relation to the total production and consumption of potatoes in this country, and I am very doubtful, in spite of what the right hon. Gentleman has said, whether this new policy of licensing is one that in the long run will be advantageous. Perhaps a special case can be made out for potatoes by some agricultural experts, and I admit that I am quite an amateur in the matter, and merely a student, but I do not like the idea of putting industry in leading strings, of licensing traders. Of the two, I would much rather have an Import Board. There you know where you are, but to take our traders and turn them into the position of a publican class, giving them inevitably a monopoly, limiting the number of traders, and giving a privilege to certain individuals to sell and market, though it may be, in the practical circumstances of the new dispensation of running our industry and agriculture on quotas, tariffs, and subsidies, the inevitable corollary, still is not the kind of thing that we, as a House of Commons, should view with favour unless we can have facts and figures to justify it.

I am glad that the special committee appointed to look after the interests of the public is satisfied, and I am informed that the Co-operative movement has been consulted. That is quite the right line of approach to carry through a policy like this, but these are big powers to invest in Government Departments and in boards and are liable to great abuse and even—what is almost as bad—to cause great suspicion to those unfortunate traders who have failed to get licences. If you have a licensing system, it is not everybody who will get a licence, I suppose. I do not think the right hon. Gentleman would give me one, for instance. I suppose I should have to have so many years' experience in the trade, with so much capital behind me, in order to get a licence.

Mr. ELLIOT

A certain number of licences are set apart for new people, and if my hon. Friend is thinking of going into the trade, I shall be happy to consider his application.

Sir P. HARRIS

The right hon. Gentleman is very kind. I should be glad if he would take the trouble to inform the House, in printed memoranda, of all the facts and figures, so that not only Parliament but the outside public should be fully advised on the subject.

10.50 p.m.

Mr. BUCHANAN

I regret coming in in the middle of the speech of the Minister of Agriculture because I intended to raise one matter earlier. I refer to the position of the Irish Free State. I understand from the remarks made by the Minister that he stated that all organisations connected with this matter had been consulted, including the Cooperative movement. May I ask him if the Irish Free State have been consulted in this matter?

Mr. ELLIOT

Certainly, we have had discussions with all the parties con- cerned. The Free State were informed quite definitely and kept informed of what was going on.

Mr. BUCHANAN

Were they consulted in the same way as the other organisations? My information is that they were not.

Mr. ELLIOT

When the hon. Member speaks of other organisations, I take it that he is not putting the Irish Free State on the same basis as a trade organisation?

Mr. BUCHANAN

I put them a little higher.

Mr. ELLIOT

Precisely, and the countries concerned are consulted as countries, and, although owing to the difficulties between ourselves and the Irish Free State the channels have become somewhat choked, yet I think the hon. Member will find that the Irish Free State has no complaint in any way of discourtesy on the part of the agricultural departments in this country.

Mr. BUCHANAN

My information is to the contrary. Apart from the question of licensing being right or wrong, if I had the support of the House I would divide against the Order to-night, if for no other reason, because of the differentiation in the case of the Irish Free State. I cannot understand the late Minister of Agriculture, now the Member for Swindon (Dr. Addison) saying that the Order had a sign of grace, because whatever else I think the Labour party would do they would not say that the Order should prohibit the Irish Free State from importing potatoes into this country, unless there was a question of disease or some special thing that might apply equally to any part of this country. Nothing of that sort has been suggested. I object fundamentally. I view with dismay what I think is the constant barrier being put up between the Irish Free State and this country. On this occasion it would be wrong for me to debate it, and I hope another occasion will arise when the issues between Great Britain and the Irish Free State may be discussed. There may be faults on the other side, but I am perfectly certain that you cannot go on treating them in this way and saying the door is closed, or almost closed, while yet saying, in effect, that they are part of your Empire.

Dr. ADDISON

I cannot find the Irish Free State mentioned in the Order.

Mr. BUCHANAN

It is. If the right hon. Gentleman looks at the Schedule, he will find—

  1. (a) Any country not being a territory under the sovereignty of His Majesty, or under His Majesty's suzerainty or protection.
  2. (b) Irish Free State.

Mr. ELLIOT

I am sure the hon. Member does regret that he was unable to be present during the whole of my speech. I did my utmost to point out that it was, in fact, because the Irish Free State is the only part of the Empire from which there is any substantial import into this country of the regulated product—

Mr. BUCHANAN

You do not do that with Northern Ireland. Northern Ireland imports potatoes in substantial quantities—

Mr. ELLIOT

There is a Customs Union between Northern Ireland and this country, and if there were a Customs Union between the Irish Free State and ourselves the position would be different. The Customs control of the Irish Free State is one of their most jealously guarded possessions.

Mr. BUCHANAN

Again, you have she illustration of the Channel Islands. If our old relationships with the Free State existed, this House would never have tolerated it being dealt with like this. The question at the moment is not so much the Potato Order as the fact that it is part and parcel of the policy of the blockade of the Free State. I view this Order with considerable alarm. If the National Government are doing this as a part of their code of relations with the Irish Free State, they should bring forward their plan of relations so that we can argue it as a whole. The right hon. Gentleman made excuses about a Customs Union. All I know is that potatoes are coming from Northern Ireland to this country. They come in in as large quantities pro rata as from the Irish Free State. You do not differentiate against them because you say that Northern Ireland is in a different relationship from the Free State with regard to Customs.

Mr. ELLIOT

My hon. Friend cannot maintain that a country which is in a Customs' Union is in the same position as a country which is without a Customs' Union. Let me repeat that there is no intention whatever of differentiating in this matter in any way against the Free State.

Mr. BUCHANAN

I say there is. What is the object of this Order? I have little patience with the Labour party in their attitude to it. The object of the Order is to cut down imports and to raise prices. If you cut down the imports from the Irish Free State considerably, as you have done, it may mean that the home producer will get a better price and more labour will be employed in this country. That is the argument for tariffs, and it may be true. That means that working people in the Free State who are British citizens as much as we are—

Mr. HASLAM

They say they are not British subjects.

Mr. BUCHANAN

If that be the argument, we will meet it. People in the Free State will be thrown out of work, so that the solution of how to give the producer in this country a decent price is to bring a certain section of the working people in the Free State to misery and poverty. If you reduce by the importation Order the quantity of potatoes coming from the Free State, to that extent you reduce the labour of the people who formerly produced them, and you bring misery to them. I cannot see that the solution of important problems in my division is to be found at the expense of bringing misery to some other part of the Empire. The Minister of Agriculture, with his Parliamentary skill and the power of Scottish logic, may be able to disprove what I am saying, but that does not do away with the fact that there are people living in the Free State and in this country who take the view which I take. In my opinion it would be much better for our statesmen to try to heal the breach between the two countries.

I do not share the view of the right hon. Member for Swindon (Dr. Addison). I do not think the licensing system is the correct method of approach to the problem, but it has become part of the Government's policy. In the course of a few years possibly it may have to be reviewed, but at any rate this policy as it affects the Free State is viewed with the utmost suspicion and dissatisfaction. I want to see friendly relations resumed between the two countries, instead of our taking a step which will only antagonise another group there. I dislike the frame of mind which this Order indicates. Yesterday we were saying how much we desired good relationships with every country in the world, even with Hitler. To-day some people are beginning to think that the Irish Free State must be worse than Hitler, because we are carrying through a policy which will have terrible consequences to the poorest part of their population. We are talking about friendship with every country in the world, and we ought not to be taking steps—perhaps quite unintentionally—which though they can be supported with good arguments and good reasons can only produce a feeling in the Free State which is not to our advantage. It would have been better to hold out the hope to the Irish that a settlement could still be made by at least excluding from this Order the Irish Free State.

11.3 p.m.

Sir THOMAS ROSBOTHAM

I rise to support the Order. It is not often that I take up very much time in the House, but I feel that I should be neglecting my duty if I did not say a word in support of the Order seeing that I come from so large and important a potato-growing district as South-West Lancashire. The Minister has rightly said that potato values have been very low. I know I am correct when I say that many potato growers have accepted a price as low as 1s. 3d. per cwt. for the white varieties, although the cost of production has been somewhere about 3s. 6d. per cwt., which shows the tremendous losses which they have suffered. We can produce all the potatoes which we require for our own use in this country with, probably, the exception of the "first earlies" from the Channel Islands which have been referred to, and we can produce them at reasonable prices, such as could not be regarded as extortionate from the point of view of the poorest of the poor. But we need a system of regulation and distribution, and this is provided for in the marketing scheme. The potato crop is a, very expensive one, and it entails a great many risks. There is the risk of frost, and the risk of pests, and various diseases, and the potato grower deserves every penny he gets out of his potatoes. The potato industry in this country finds employment for a very large number of people. It is an expensive crop. Import by licence is the only reasonable proposition that will meet the case. Prices are reasonable to the consumer, and have been reasonable ever since the marketing scheme was brought into operation.

I was very pleased to hear the right hon. Gentleman the Member for Swindon (Dr. Addison) give his support to this Order. We know how hard he worked during the Labour Government to get the first Marketing Act into operation. I also worked hard for him to get his Bill through, and was one of his loyal supporters. It did not surprise me that the right hon. Gentleman supported the Order, because it was in accordance with one of his principles. It is one of the principles of the Labour party to support import boards and restrictions of imports by licence.

This Order will not cause artificial prices but will see justice done all round. The hon. Member for South West Bethnal Green (Sir P. Harris) admitted that he did not know much about the potato growing industry; I am speaking as one who does. I should like to have conversations with the hon. Member and if he is deficient in knowledge of the cost of production of potatoes I shall be pleased to supply him with further information. He does not believe in any form of regulation of distribution or restruction, but prefers to leave the whole question in a state of chaos. Another matter that affects the potato industry is rotation of crops. If we do not encourage the potato crop, our land will suffer, and it will get foul with weeds. Rotation of the potato crop is most important from the national point of view. The hon. Baronet and his friends moved an Amendment to the Address the other evening complaining that the Government had taken no action; they are now complaining that the Government are taking action.

The drop in imports is due to organisation. The Channel Islands always supply us with first earlies, which come in before our earlies are ready. They do not interfere with our market. The same applies to Spain. Potatoes from the Irish Free State only come in with the seconds or lates, and they will not be restricted, but will come in without licence. I would point out to the hon. Member for Gorbals (Mr. Buchanan) that the potato industry in this country provides employment for a large number of Irish Free State people who come over in large numbers and send a good deal of money back to the Irish Free State from this country during the potato digging time. I am sure the hon. Member will not object to that. He is fair-minded enough to admit that we give them encouragement in allowing them to assist us to dig our potatoes.

I support the Order because I am convinced that it will not raise prices, will do justice all round to producer and consumer, and will see that the crop is properly regulated and distributed under proper organisation. The consumer, even in the very poorest parts of our towns and cities, will reap the benefit.

11.10 p.m.

Mr. DINGLE FOOT

I desire to support the serious point which has been put by the hon. Member for Gorbals (Mr. Buchanan). The right hon. Gentleman said just now that he did not think the Irish Free State could complain of harsh treatment. No doubt that is true. The question, however, is not whether they have been treated harshly, or whether, as the hon. Member for Ormskirk (Sir T. Rosbotham) said, they have got something in return, but there is in the Order a rather serious political implication as regards the Irish Free State. They might not complain of being treated harshly, but can the right hon. Gentleman say that they have consented to this Order? The Order provides that it shall not be lawful to import into the United Kingdom, except under licence, any produce grown in any foreign country named in the Order. The First Schedule names certain foreign countries, and then follows the Irish Free State. Does it not follow from that that we are classing the Irish Free State with foreign countries? That seems to me to be an extremely serious matter. I think I am right in saying that we do not impose any compulsory restriction, whether by tariff or quota or licence, on any other British Dominion. Any quotas or restrictions of supply which apply to any other British Dominion are, I think I am right in saying, voluntary restrictions which have been arranged by agreement with them and to which they have expressly assented.

This, I take it, is a compulsory restriction; it does not rest on any express agreement between the Irish Free State and ourselves. It is true that we have certain tariffs against the Irish Free State, but they are not tariffs such as we have against foreign countries, put on for the purpose of protection, but are put on for the one specific purpose of debt collection, and they are in an entirely different category from the import duties that we put on against foreign countries. Those duties provide no precedent for what is set out in this Order. Surely the matter should be one of negotiation and agreement. I submit that this is an extremely serious matter. I realise that it is very difficult to make an Order without bringing under it the supplies that come from the, Irish Free State, but I submit that it would be exceedingly unfortunate if, in endeavouring to provide some system of control and licensing for the importation of potatoes into England and Scotland, we should inadvertently set up a principle of this kind—the principle of applying a compulsory limitation of imports, and not an agreed limitation of imports, to a British Dominion.

11.14 p.m.

Mr. ELLIOT

I must thank the House for the reception which it has given to the Order. With respect to one or two points of explanation which have been asked for, I hope to be able to satisfy hon. Members. The hon. Member for South-West Bethnal Green (Sir P. Harris) brought up the point of objection to licensing importers. All I can say is that no importer has objected to this system. The chief consuming industries Are represented; the co-operative movement has a seat on the council; and a, proportion of the potential importation is held by the Board of Trade for the benefit of new entrants into the trade. As to the point raised by the hon. Member for Gorbals (Mr. Buchanan), and also by the hon. Member for South-West Bethnal Green, regarding what is described as differentiation between the Channel Islands, for instance, and the Irish Free State, the point of main importance is that the Channel Islands produce earlies, and the Free State produces main-crop potatoes. There is a series of ancient charters by which the produce of the Channel Islands is imported free into this country. They are in fact a trade agreement country, and it is not possible for them to come under this Regulation.

With regard to the general point made by the hon. Member for Gorbals, I think it is clear that we have regulated our trade with many countries in the Empire by means of trade agreements, and that an opportunity was offered to the Free State to make a trade agreement with this country—an offer which, for their own reasons, they did not accept, as they had a perfect right not to do. Therefore it is clear that they are for the time being in a different position from those countries which have negotiated trade agreements. There is the further point that some differentiation, some penalisation is being applied to the Irish Free State. One single figure will answer that point. In the year 1931–32 the proportion of imports of main crop potatoes from the Irish Free State was 5 per cent. In 1932–33 it had risen to 20 per cent. It is clear that there is no differentiation against a country when its proportion of imports rise from 5 to 20 per cent. in two successive years. I hope that statement will dispose of the uneasiness which the hon. Member feels lest there should be some discrimination and that he will allow my argument to stand—that it is simply for the purpose of regulating the position of the suppliers to the market that steps are taken here to regulate the position of the largest and nearest of our foreign suppliers.

Mr. DINGLE FOOT

Is there any precedent for applying the system of compulsory quota or compulsory licensing to an Empire country

Mr. ELLIOT

I think not, except in the case of the Ottawa Agreements. There is clearly an opportunity for regulating the Trade Agreements between this country and other parts of the Empire, by agreement. In most cases that has been adopted. There are cases in which these agreements have not yet been made. Clearly it would be unfair to the countries which have made agreements to put a country which has not made an agreement in a more favourable position. Everyone, I think, will agree to that. Therefore, undoubtedly until the relations between the two countries are regulated by general agreements they must be regulated either by ad hoc voluntary agreement, as was done before the Order was brought in, or by compulsory regulation as in this case. Of course, in the case of any country, if an agreement is subsequently negotiated it will be possible to do away with or to modify compulsory regulations which had previously been in existence. It would not be possible for any trade to be conducted on the basis that countries which had negotiated agreements should be put in a less favourable position than countries which had not.

Question put, and agreed to.

Resolved, That the Potato (Import. Regulation) Order, 1934, dated the twenty-ninth day of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, made by the Board of Trade under the Agricultural Marketing Act, 1933, a copy of which was presented to this House on the thirty-first day of October, nineteen hundred and thirty-four, be approved.

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