7. Mr. H. Wilsonasked the President of the Board of Trade the total profit earned on behalf of the British taxpayer from the activities of United Kingdom-Dominion Wool Disposals Limited from 1945 to 1954.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftThe United Kingdom's share of the net profits earned during this period was £86 million.
Mr. WilsonIn view of all the statements made by the right hon. Gentleman and his colleagues about losses on State trading and other materials, will he not now pay handsome tribute to this fine profit of £86 million earned for the British taxpayer by State trading?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftI shall certainly pay tribute to Sir Harry Shackleton, the former Wool Controller, and to Mr. F. S. Arthur, for the very successful results they achieved. However, in order to do this again we should have to reproduce the same conditions—to start a war, to accumulate over four years a large stock of wool by buying and selling at fixed prices—a procedure which the Commonwealth wool-producing countries would not accept in peace time—and then sell the resulting stock on a rising market.
Mr. WilsonSince the right hon. Gentleman attributes this very handsome profit to the fact that this wool was first accumulated and then sold on a rising market, will he not equally admit that all the complaints he made about raw cotton were due to the fact that having made profits on a rising market there were some losses on a falling one?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftI am not dealing with that, but with this case.
§ Mr. CallaghanHas the President noticed that all one has to do to make a loss of £20 million on British Road Services is to try to sell a few lorries?