§ 51. Mr. Parkerasked the Minister of Production what steps are being taken to get all available supplies of crude rubber from Belgian Congo, Brazil and Bolivia, respectively?
§ Mr. LytteltonAn agreement has been reached with the Belgian Colonial Ministry under which the United Kingdom Government is to purchase the rubber output of the Congo at a price which has been calculated to bring forward the maximum quantities available. The Belgian Colonial Government has established a Commission to administer and stimulate the production of plantation and wild rubber in the Congo, and steps have been taken to reopen abandoned plantations, to transfer labour from less essential industry and to publicise the need for the collection of wild rubber. The production of rubber in Brazil and Bolivia is being dealt with by the United States Government which has concluded an agreement, to spend five million dollars on developing rubber in the Amazon basin, to send a mission to develop rubber resources there, and to buy all Brazil's exportable surplus of rubber. The United States Government is also buying the total production of Bolivian rubber.