§ 71. Mr. Toucheasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will give an estimate of the average annual prewar earnings of invisible exports of the Liverpool Cotton Exchange, and the Mincing Lane and Mark Lane Commodity Markets.
§ Mr. BelcherIt is believed that the contribution of produce brokerage as a whole to the balance of payments was of the order of £10 million per annum.
§ Mr. ToucheWould the Parliamentary Secretary consider re-opening these markets as an obvious way of obtaining invisible exports?
§ Mr. BelcherThat is a different question. I was asked to give an estimate of the amount of money earned by those markets.
| Country. | Nature of Delegation. | Date of Discussions. | Scope. |
| Austria | Delegation of Officials | September, 1946 | Resumption of trade. |
| Representative businessmen | April, 1947 | Visits to Government Departments, and to industry. | |
| Belgium | Official Delegation | January, 1947 | Balance of trade and payments. |
| Brazil | Official Delegation led by Brazilian Minister for Foreign Affairs. | September, 1946 | Mutual trade arrangements. |
| Czechoslovakia | Trade Delegation led by Dr. Kuraz of the Czechoslovakian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. | October to November, 1945– Expert discussions continued into 1946. | These discussions resulted in (a) a Monetary Agreement between the U.K. and Czechoslovakia (Cmd. 6694); (b) a Property Agreement between the U.K. and Czechoslovakia (Cmd. 6695) (c) Understandings about Anglo-Czechoslovak trade; and (d) lifting of Trading with the Enemy restrictions on trade with Czechoslovakia (S.R. & O. Number 1357, 1358 and 1359 of 1945). |
§ Mr. ErrollCan the Parliamentary Secretary give an estimate of how much was earned by the Liverpool Cotton Exchange?
§ Mr. BelcherI am afraid that I cannot break down the figure.