§ 50. Mr. G. Darlingasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will arrange for the Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission to inquire into the operations of film-producing companies which also control film laboratories and have substantial ownership of cinemas.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftNo, Sir.
§ Mr. DarlingAs it is an odds on chance that the President will have to intervene in this industry owing to the failure of the trade associations in it to come to some agreement, would it not be as well to have a better picture of the structure of the industry, how it operates and how the big concerns dominate it through a report from the Monopolies Commission?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftI have considerable doubt whether Monopolies Commission legislation would cover such a matter. There is a good deal of legislation dealing with monopoly inside the film industry, such as the Cinematograph Films Acts, and I think it is better to deal with those problems under Acts concerned with the film industry rather than by outside legislation.