74. Lieut.-Colonel Dowerasked the President of the Board of Trade what cuts have been imposed on allocations of paper to weekly newspapers; and how long such cuts will remain in force.
§ Mr. BelcherI would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the reply given on 27th March to my hon. Friends the Members for Rothwell (Mr. T. J. Brooks) and Taunton (Mr. Collins). As a result of the changes made, certain of the newspapers are restricted to the number of pages published during the period of the general electricity restrictions, although most newspapers revert to the number of pages they carried immediately prior to these restrictions. No increase can take place until the paper supply position improves.
Lieut.-Colonel DowerIs the hon. Gentleman aware that the general opinion is that in many districts—especially rural areas—weekly papers, upon which people largely depend for their news, are being severely curtailed, whereas daily papers 1842 —and I welcome it—have been able to increase their supply of newsprint?
§ Mr. BelcherAs a matter of fact, a comparison between weekly and daily papers shows that weekly papers are receiving a higher proportion of their prewar consumption than the daily papers.
§ Mr. MarloweIs the hon. Gentleman aware that this new arrangement has inflicted great injustice on provincial newspapers, which have been put back, on a more or less permanent basis, into the position in which they were in during the crisis, and not into the position into which they were before the crisis?
§ Mr. BelcherI am only too anxious to assist people in the provinces, but with all the good will in the world I cannot do anything about it until the supply of newsprint increases.