§ 17. Mr. Fisherasked the President of the Board of Trade how the price of timber recently purchased from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics compares with the price at which Swedish timber could have been bought last November.
Mr. H. WilsonI would refer the hon. Member to the reply given on 6th July to the hon. and gallant Member for Lewes (Major Beamish).
§ Mr. FisherIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that his reply to my hon. and gallant Friend the Member for Lewes (Major Beamish) on 6th July was quite evasive in that it is perfectly well known throughout the timber industry in this country and Scandinavia that more timber could have been obtained than that recently bought from Russia, and at a cheaper price, if negotiations last November had been carried on with reasonable vigour and despatch? Will he agree that there has been considerable detriment to the house-building programme by his policy?