HC Deb 31 May 1951 vol 488 cc396-7
29. Mr. Baker White

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that a British ship of the Moller Line on charter has sailed from Rotterdam via Aden and Hong Kong for Tientsin with a cargo of scientific instruments, cameras and microscopes; and what action His Majesty's Government proposes to take in this matter.

Sir H. Shawcross

I was not aware of the shipment to which the hon. Member refers, but as at present advised I should not propose to interfere with cargoes lawfully exported by a friendly State to China merely because they are being carried in a British ship. Nor have I any reason to believe that any exports consigned from the Netherlands to China would include strategic materials.

Mr. Baker White

Is the right hon. and learned Gentleman satisfied that this ship, the "Alpha Orient," which passed Colombo on 24th May, does not contain any air photographic cameras or photographic material suitable for use in military aircraft?

Sir H. Shawcross

I am not in a position to give the details of a cargo which was not loaded in a British port, but I have no reason whatever to think that cargoes loaded from the Netherlands would include strategic materials.

UNITED KINGDOM EXPORTS TO COUNTRIES IN EASTERN EUROPE* OF MINING MACHINERY OTHER THAN PORTABLE POWER TOOLS
1949 1950 1951 January-April
Cwt. £ Cwt. £ Cwt. £
Czechoslovakia … … 4,093 90,333 4,636 132,745 373 11,044
Soviet Union … … — — — — — —
Finland … … 489 7,689 64 1,391 3 216
Poland … … 44,106 655,496 37,216 572,720 7,828 127,367
Hungary … … 1,255 13,945 80 1,764 — —
Yugoslavia … … 509 5,222 732 5,281 — —
Roumania … … 8 589 — — — —
Total, East European countries 50,460 773,274 42,728 713,901 8,204 138,627
* Including Finland and Yugoslavia.

There were no exports to Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Albania or Bulgaria, or after 1950 to the Soviet zone of Eastern Germany. For the latter no separate figures are available prior to 1951.