HC Deb 13 December 1938 vol 342 cc1769-70
5. Mr. Fleming

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the British East African Colonies are included in the terms of the Congo Basin Treaty of 1885 and the Anglo-Japanese Agreement of 1919, in respect of trading facilities?

Mr. Stanley

I assume that my hon. and learned Friend, when he refers to the Anglo-Japanese Agreement of 1919, has in mind the Convention of St. Germain-en-Laye relating to the Congo Basin, to which Japan is a party. The British Colonial Dependencies to which the instruments of 1885 and 1919 apply are Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika, Zanzibar, Nyasaland and part of Northern Rhodesia.

Mr. Fleming

Is my right hon. Friend aware of the great dissatisfaction that exists in Lancashire over the critical effects of these treaties and conventions as regards the export of textiles to our own Colonies in Africa?

Mr. Stanley

I have already explained on many occasions that we have been advised by the Law Officers that we have no power to denounce these treaties. My right hon. Friend the Secretary to the Department of Overseas Trade has explained that the total import of cotton goods into all the Colonies mentioned amounted in 1937 to about £1,000,000.