§ 19. Mr. Parkinasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the fact that aircraft engines of Czechoslovak manufacture are now being imported into this country, he will remove the embargo on export to Czechoslovakia of modern machines for the manufacture and testing of aircraft engines.
§ Mr. P. ThorneycroftTwo small piston engines have been imported from Czechoslovakia. The export control covers machines for the manufacture and testing of jet engines. These items are not really relevant to one another.
§ Mr. ParkinIs the Minister not aware that these imported Czech engines appear to be very attractive to manufacturers of small aircraft in this country? That seems to be an indication that the aircraft industry in Czechoslovakia is in a fairly good state. While recognising that the right hon. Gentleman personally is not responsible for all the nonsense of these Regulations, will he not at least express a hope that they will soon be made a little more rational than they are now?
§ Mr. ThorneycroftWithout going into the bigger issues involved, I would say that I do not think the fact that we have imported two small piston engines is really relevant to the question whether we put a strategic control on machines for testing modern jet engines.