HC Deb 25 May 1950 vol 475 cc2223-4
33. Mr. Enroll

asked the President of the Board of Trade why no clear and separate reference to the trade in petroleum products is made in his monthly Report on Overseas Trade.

Mr. H. Wilson

The Report on Overseas Trade is designed to give mainly a broad picture of our overseas trade. It is based on the monthly Trade and Navigation Accounts to which the hon. Member should refer for details of trade in individual commodities.

Mr. Enroll

In view of the great importance of the British trade in petroleum products, cannot the right hon. Gentleman exercise his not inconsiderable statistical ability to secure a separate entry in these returns?

Mr. Wilson

I am surprised that the hon. Member does not exercise his statistical ability by looking up the Trade and Navigation Returns.

Mr. Erroll

I did exercise that ability and found it very difficult successfully to distinguish the figures for vegetable oils, fats and resin from petroleum products. Perhaps the right hon. Gentleman will tell us how we can so distinguish them.

Mr. Wilson

I think that what the hon. Member is after is something that would not be dealt with even in the most detailed accounts in the Report on Overseas Trade. If he will inform me what he is concerned to get, I will see if it can be made available to him.

Sir Herbert Williams

If the information is already in the Trade and Navigation Returns, why do we produce another publication?

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