HC Deb 02 February 1943 vol 386 cc728-30
13. Sir Herbert Williams

asked the President of the Board of Trade how many companies have been registered as subsidiaries to the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation; and for what purposes these subsidiaries have been established?

16. Sir Granville Gibson

asked the President of the Board of Trade why the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation has been registered as separate companies in eight countries of the Near East; whether the activities of these companies are to be confined to the period of the war; Whether the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation will have the power of a monopoly of trade in the countries in respect of which they are registered; and whether it will be necessary to obtain their permission before business can be done or shipping space allocated for those eight countries?

Mr. Dalton

Nine subsidiaries of the United Kingdom Commercial Corporation in the Middle East and in East Africa were registered in the United Kingdom in December last. Subsidiaries had previously been registered for Argentina, Spain and Portugal. The reason in all cases is commercial convenience. The United Kingdom Commercial Corporation has no monopoly of trade in any of the areas concerned, nor does it determine what goods shall be shipped, though it allocates shipping space to certain Middle Eastern destinations on behalf of the Ministry of War Transport. As I stated last Tuesday, this organisation is doing most valuable work in many parts of the world and is regarded by His Majesty's Government as essential to our war effort. I am certainly not prepared to give any assurance that the activities of the Corporation will be terminated at the end of the war.

Sir H. Williams

Is it the case that this Corporation occasionally takes orders forcibly away which the merchants have obtained and uses the device of the present system to prevent merchants from carrying on their proper business?

Mr. Dalton

This Corporation is on the whole very helpful to many traders in many parts of the world, but when there is a war on we have to depart to some extent from peace-time practices.

Sir H. Williams

Was it not the case that we managed to do all right in the last war without this sort of thing?

Mr. Dalton

We did very well in the last war, and we are doing better now.

Sir G. Gibson

While there are many cases of the U.K.C.C. doing useful service to industry in many parts of the world, they still control shipping space to the Middle East, and can the right hon. Gentleman give an assurance to the House that after the war the U.K.C.C. will not exercise any type of monopoly over either the arrangements for shipping space or the trade with foreign countries?

Mr. Dalton

I have answered the hon. Member's Question and have assured him that at the present time the U.K.C.C. does not exercise any monopoly in any of these areas, but it is an indispensable instrument working with the Ministry of War Transport to allocate shipping space to the Middle East, which is a very important military area, and ordinary commercial considerations cannot apply to the Middle East at the present time.

Sir G. Gibson

Is it the fact that no shipping space is allocated to the Middle East unless with the consent of the U.K.C.C. and that to that extent, in a sense, they hold a monopoly?

Mr. Dalton

No, Sir, they are agents of the Government.