§ 38. Mr. Awberyasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will seek from the Monopolies Commission information on the amount of money that was paid to the Swedish Match Company for reducing the supply of matches to this country in 1951; and the sum that was paid to the Finnish manufacturers of match-making machinery for restricting the supply of machinery.
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Trade (Mr. Henry Strauss)The hon. Member will find the various payments due in 1951 between the British Match Corporation and the Swedish Match Corporation set out under each clause of the Agreement in Appendix 6 of the Monopolies Commission's Report. 195 As regards the second part of the Question, the annual sum paid to the Finnish manufacturers of match-making machinery, as shown in paragraph 86 of the Report, is 12,500 Swedish kroner. In 1951 the sterling equivalent of this sum was £864 18s. 9d.
§ Mr. AwberyCan the hon. and learned Gentleman tell us why the Commission have left this important information out of their Report? Is he not aware that the money paid to the Swedish and Finnish manufacturers comes from the pockets of our taxpayers? How long is this to go on?
§ Mr. StraussThe hon. Gentleman must have misunderstood my answer. So far from the information being left out of the Report, I quoted the two passages in the Report where he will find the figures.