§ 46. Colonel Crosthwaite-Eyreasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what action is taken by His Majesty's Government to ensure that in allocating dollars and other hard currencies from the sterling area pool to countries within and without the sterling area, account is taken of the retention by the recipient country of any hard currencies earned by that country.
§ Sir S. CrippsMembers of the sterling area keep the Bank of England informed of their dollar holdings. It is the established practice that they only draw from the central reserves such dollars and other hard currencies as they need, after taking into account sums retained to meet their current working requirements. In cases where His Majesty's Government agrees to permit countries outside the sterling area to buy dollars from the Bank of England, the amount is always specified in the agreement.
§ Colonel Crosthwaite-EyreMay I ask the Chancellor whether, particularly when we take account of what has been released to India, he has taken into consideration the fact that all Indian manganese is now sold direct for American dollars?
§ Sir S. CrippsI have no information as to the latter fact. All earnings by the Indians for dollars are taken into full account.