§ 39. Mr. Peter Freemanasked the President of the Board of Trade if the conditions have been fulfilled under which the fur trade in the United Kingdom was allowed unlimited imports of undressed furskins provided fur garments equal in value to the cost of these imports were to be exported; what is the difference in value between imports and exports under the arrangement so far; and whether the arrangement is to be continued.
§ Sir S. CrippsThe object of exempting furs from import licensing was to reestablish the London international fur 268 Market. The trade estimated that within two or three years the annual level of the value of exports of skins and manufactured fur goods would exceed that of imports and undertook to do everything possible to achieve this. The value of undressed and dressed fur skins (excluding rabbit skins) and manufactures of fur imported during the first nine months of 1946 was £8,500,000 and the exports (including re-exports) in the same period were £4,400,000. The deficit which has diminished in recent months is partly attributable to the building up of stocks and partly to an undue proportion going into the home market for the manufacture of fur garments. The latter should be rectified by a new Order limiting a manufacturer's production of the more expensive kinds of Utility fur garments to three times the value of his exports of manufactured fur goods.
§ Mr. FreemanIs it not a fact that artificial furs can be produced in this country, and would sterling not be better employed in developing that trade than in developing the very cruel and unnecessary trade of importing furs?
§ Sir S. CrippsPerhaps the hon. Member would put that question on the Order Paper.
§ Mr. NicholsonHave the Government any views upon the degree to which cruelty in producing these furs should enter into our calculations?
§ Sir S. CrippsWe have no means of examining the method by which the furs are got in various other countries.