HC Deb 22 March 1956 vol 550 cc1451-2
23. Mr. Nabarro

asked the President of the Board of Trade what steps he takes to encourage the buying of British manufactured opencast coal-mining machinery from British specialist manufacturers before authorising to the National Coal Board dollar funds for purchasing equivalent United States machinery.

Mr. P. Thorneycroft

Before issuing an import licence for dollar machinery to any applicant, I satisfy myself that, on the facts available to me at the time, no British alternative offering roughly similar advantages is available.

Mr. Nabarro

Is my right hon. Friend not aware that 3 million dollars were recently authorised for two giant drag-line excavators from America, one of which is now lying with its back broken on the North-East Coast and the other is out of commission, and that at the time these were ordered by the Coal Board and the dollars were authorised by his Department, British equivalents were available from Ransome and Rapier at Ipswich?

Mr. Thorneycroft

While no one would question the quality of any alternative that might have been available, there was a question of delivery date which had to be considered carefully and weighed against the amount of coal which could be got by getting these machines a little earlier.

Mr. Stokes

It is scarcely necessary for me to declare my interest. While I agree with the Minister that at the time these machines were ordered the question of delivery was of considerable importance, is he aware that the reason why the Coal Board was reduced to the ridiculous position of having to buy inferior machinery in America was that the Ministry of Fuel and Power could not make up its mind about how much opencast coal it wanted? Consequently, there was not sufficient time to negotiate for the site that the Coal Board wished to open and the Board had to buy this machinery in a hurry, at great cost, when much better machinery was available in this country, if only the Board had made up its mind in time.

Mr. Thorneycroft

When the case came to me I had to make a judgment on it according to the delivery position at the time, and I made my judgment to the best of my ability.