§ 76 and 77. Sir J. Mellorasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) under what authority restrictions have been imposed on the import of Australian books into the United Kingdom;
(2) whether he will adjust existing restrictions upon the import of literature into the United Kingdom so as to differentiate in favour of imports from the sterling area.
§ Mr. BelcherI regret that I am unable to adopt the hon. Member's suggestion, for reasons which are given fully in the statement circulated in the OFFICIAL 1730 REPORT for 17th April in reply to a Question by the hon. Member for Bedford (Mr. Skeffington-Lodge). As explained in that statement, the present arrangements for the import of books have been devised so as to take account, as far as is consistent with our obligation not to discriminate against imports from the U.S.A., of the growth of the publishing industry in Australia and other Commonwealth countries since 1939.
§ Sir J. MellorWill the hon. Gentleman say why imports from the sterling area should be restricted by reference to the quantity of literature we can afford to buy from the United States?
§ Mr. BelcherI think the hon. Gentleman is well aware of the fact that the loan agreement does tie us to some extent not to discriminate against imports from the United States of America in favour of other countries.
§ Mr. CooperWill the Minister go into the whole question of seeing that the allocation of paper is diverted to the channels which are most important instead of being wasted on hoardings and similar ugly devices, since we want all the paper we can have for books?
§ Mr. BelcherI am afraid that if I started an inquiry into the most effective and useful distribution of paper I should be bombarded by inquiries and representations from various quarters of the House in favour of very many different uses.