§ Motion made, and Question proposed,That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Wills.]
§ 3.59 p.m.
§ Mr. Montgomery Hyde (Belfast, North)I am glad to have the opportunity of raising the question of the export of English books, particularly because the debate is to be answered by my right hon. and learned Friend the Minister of State, Board of Trade, who is himself an author of distinction and who has also had some experience, I think, of publishing. At all events, my hon. and learned Friend once wrote a novel, following the tradition of my right hon. Friend the Member for Woodford (Sir W. Churchill) and other—
§ It being Four o'clock, the Motion for the Adjournment of the House lapsed, without Question put.
§ Motion made, and Question proposed, That this House do now adjourn.—[Mr. Wills.]
§ Mr. Hyde—statesmen in their youth, and called it "Out of Step." I would only ask that when he hears the facts and arguments I propose to adduce very briefly on this subject he will not echo blindly the title of that work, which, like his other writings, I hope will continue to provide enjoyment for readers at home and overseas.
If it is true that people cannot escape from the influence of the books they read, the wide distribution of English books must be of incalculable advantage in spreading English ideas throughout the world. We are often told that trade follows the flag, but, as one English publisher, Sir Stanley Unwin, pointed out, it would be truer to say that trade follows the book. The book penetrates further; its influence is more subtle and more far-reaching. It moves the hearts and emotions of people in their homes, by their own firesides, often at what are their most quiet and receptive moments.
In 1956, exports of British books realised £20,870,000. This figure does not include periodicals. That may seem an inconsiderable factor in Britain's total economy, but it represents an average of 821 37 per cent. of British publishers' turnover. We should remember that some publishers in the educational and technical fields export one-half, or even more than one-half, of what they produce. The export of books, however, is of more than monetary value. I will quote a letter received from a member of one of our embassies abroad:
It is in our general interest to expand the sale of British books and magazines not only for their pure commercial worth, but also for the sake of the indirect advantages gained by the propagation of British thought and ideas in competition with American and German influences.Books also lead the way for other exports. The schoolboy who has learned his mathematics from a British text book will be inclined, as an engineering student, to turn to British technical books. Where those are the accepted guides, the equipment and machinery ordered in those countries is likely also to be British. Hitherto, British exports have shown a steady increase every year since the war, in spite of the rapidly expanding competition, particularly from the United States and Germany. The figure I quoted, £20,870,000 for 1956, is £2¾ million more than the comparable figure for the previous year.So long as the competition remains on level terms, British publishers are confident of their ability to meet it. I think that there is no doubt about that; but of recent years they have found certain markets becoming closed to them because foreign competitors. through the direct intervention of their Governments, are receiving preferential treatment, particularly through the lifting in their favour of local currency restrictions. The most prominent of those schemes is the one put forward by the United States of America and known as the Informational Medium Guaranty programme, or I.M.G. Under that arrangement, the importer pays the price of the book produced in the United States in local currency into a central fund in his own country. The United States pays out a corresponding amount in dollars to the publisher and draws on the fund for its own purposes, or, if no use can be found for blocked currency, it stands the loss.
These I.M.G. programmes have now been set up in most of the rapidly developing countries where books are desperately needed for education, and 822 where cash also is short, countries such as Pakistan, Burma, Indonesia, Israel. Turkey, and also some of the South American countries, such as Chile. The latest addition to the list is Spain, where the allocation for the first year of the I.M.G. plan there is 24,400,000 pesetas, which is over one-third of the total value of book imports into Spain for the year before the I.M.G. programme there was introduced.
The most disastrous effect of this development on British book exports, and hence on every British export, is well exemplified in the case of Pakistan. Here, every initial advantage was with the British. Not only were traders in Pakistan accustomed to look towards Britain, but the whole educational system there was built up on British lines. The text books and reference books in standard use had hitherto been British, and half the scientists and university teachers were trained in England.
These people would much prefer to obtain from Britain the books they so desperately need because British books are familiar to them, and, incidentally, because they are cheaper than American books. But the sterling allocated by the Pakistan Government for book imports, or at least for that part which filters through the local book trade, is quite inadequate to supply the users' needs, so they are forced to turn to American publications which can be freely imported under the I.M.G. programme.
It is not only that British books are being dropped from the educational curricula, but educationists and teachers in Pakistan are coming to bear a grudge against us who, it seems to them, have wilfully thrown them to the Americans. At the same time, the educational bias is no longer in our favour, for the students and trainees in Pakistan who used to come here are now encouraged by generous scholarships to complete their education in America instead. Once the market is lost, the odds will be very much against our regaining it.
I should like to say a word about Israel, a country in which my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham (Mr. Gresham Cooke), who, unfortunately, is not able to be here today, has taken a particular interest. My hon. Friend was in Israel during the Christmas Recess, and asked me to say that he was seriously 823 disturbed at the position there. The shops in Israel were full of American books and magazines, and particularly technical books. As a result, the American book trade there is very firmly established and English books are gradually being driven out of the market.
My hon. Friend was also particularly concerned about the flood of American technical books into the country which is tending to make its traders buy American plant, machinery, motor cars, and so on. There is in Israel an enormous demand for British and European type books, and it would be a great pity if Israel were to become completely swamped, as it is in imminent danger of becoming, by American publications.
Of course, the United States Government are not the only Government that consider it politic to give special support to the export of books. The Soviet State-controlled publishing organisation is sending vast quantities of books printed in the appropriate languages, at nominal prices and with all freight paid, into India, Burma, West Africa, and also into many European countries. The agents of British publishers abroad frequently report, also, that German exporters are receiving assistance from their Government, and further investigation would probably reveal the existence of German schemes similar to the I.M.G. scheme.
The Soviet Russian Government subsidise not only the means of distribution, but also the prices of exported books and this lead is now being followed by the United States Government, who are financing the production by commercial firms, both American and foreign, of very cheap paper-backed editions of those books which may be valuable as propaganda of what might be called "the American way of life." British publishers are, however, at present confident that they can compete in price if the currency bars to their trade can be removed or at least alleviated. They ask only that Her Majesty's Government should consider whether it would not be possible to introduce some counter measure to the I.M.G. programme.
As can be seen from the turnover figures which I have quoted, the amount of sterling that, at the most, would be involved is, by general standards, extremely small. This smaller assistance given to 824 our book exports would benefit not only the national interest as a whole, but the particular interest of all other export traders. The action of the United States and Russian Governments, in particular, in powerfully assisting book exports, lends colour to this belief.
Among other Governments, the French have recently subsidised book exports to the value of 600 million francs, which affords further evidence that Governments other than our own regard the export of reading matter as being in the national interest and not merely in the more narrowly defined context of the commercial interests of their nationals.
In replying to a Question by my hon. Friend the Member for Twickenham on 31st January, this year with specific reference to the export of British books to Israel, my right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade said:
… we really cannot afford to take local currency."—[OFFICIAL REPORT, 31st January, 1957; Vol. 563, c. 1146.]I wonder whether this is really so.I would appeal to my right hon. and learned Friend and to his right hon. Friend the President of the Board of Trade to look at this matter again, to take the long view and not to be penny wise and pound foolish. If, as I am sure they will agree, a nation's literature is the permanent embodiment of the experience of its greatest men and women, can there be any more desirable thing for any nation to offer to the world? A relatively small outlay to enable these books to be accepted in those countries which at present experience difficulties in buying English books will, I am convinced, reap handsome dividends in trade' with and good will towards the United Kingdom.
§ 4.13 p.m.
§ The Minister of State, Board of Trade (Mr. Derek Walker-Smith)The House will be indebted to my hon. Friend the Member for Belfast, North (Mr. Hyde) for putting so clearly and concisely and so temperately the arguments he has advanced. I personally am indebted to him for referring to me with characteristically over-generous exaggeration as an author of distinction. It is true that, apart from the juvenilia he mentioned, I have made some contributions in the field of political and legal biography which, as it happens, is the field in which 825 he himself has made his most and very well-known and valuable contributions to literature. I do not any longer write books myself but I still read them assiduously during such leisure as I have, so he will accept that my sympathies are fully engaged in the way in which he would wish.
Of course, we fully accept the importance of the export of books, both in the general context of the value to the country of exports as a whole—because, of course. our economy is totally dependent upon our export trade—and also of the particular importance to which he referred of the export of books in the general context of our export trade. So far as the export of books is concerned, I feel they have a three-fold importance. First, the financial aspect. In spite of what my hon. Friend said, I ask him to believe that I am under no temptation at all to underestimate the financial advantage we derive from the export of books. Books are, in fact, a very good earner of foreign exchange, including, of course, a valuable dollar component.
The second aspect to which he referred was the influence of trade and technical publications on the general promotion of our export trade. This, of course, is a very important side, because textbooks and educational books, along with trade and technical publications of all kinds, have an added export value in the appreciation of British skills, methods and standards in many fields, together with adding to the knowledge of the goods we have to sell and the services we have to offer. Such books and publications help to stimulate the export of such things as machinery and equipment by attuning overseas technicians and businessmen to British terminology, specifications and so on.
Then there is the third aspect, no less important, if perhaps less easily definable, in the context of the special importance of the export of books. That may be called the aspect of the general presentation of Britain to the contemporary world and the spreading of British influence overseas. The printed word is an important and enduring element in this task of presentation not superseded by more modern inventions, the radio and suchlike, because my hon. Friend will readily recalllitera scripta manet.
826 I think it important in this context not to get the matter out of perspective or to take a dismal view of the performance and prospects of the book trade in the world as a whole. We do not have actual facts or figures of the export of books, because the value of exports by post is not included in the figures of the Trade and Navigation Accounts. But we get book export figures from the Publishers' Association and we are very much obliged to them for making those figures available to us.
As my hon. Friend has said, in 1956 the export of books earned about £21 million worth of foreign currency for the country. He pointed out that this was £2¾ million more than in 1955. But it was also double the amount earned as recently as seven years ago, in 1949, which I think gives some indication of the progress being made in this field. This is a record on which British publishers and authors alike merit congratulation.
Before coming to the more specific points to which my hon. Friend referred, and just to complete the picture, may I say that in most countries, happily, the imports, at any rate of serious reading matter, are freely admitted and the difficulties in the way of selling British books on the ordinary basis for cash arise only in a very limited number of countries to most of which, if not all, my hon. Friend has referred. The Publishers' Association, to whom he referred in his argument, list seven difficult countries for British books. They are Pakistan, Israel, Burma, Indonesia, Turkey, Chile and Spain. Of course, as I am sure my non. Friend will accept, by no means all of those seven countries can be regarded as even potentially large markets for British books.
Nevertheless, in recognition of the special importance of the book exports to which I have been referring, the Board of Trade in fact maintains a special machinery for the discussion of export problems between the book trade and the Government Departments concerned. It must be borne in mind, as I think my hon. Friend appreciates, that the principal difficulty for British books in these difficult markets is the intractable one of the chronic shortage of sterling in the countries concerned. In these circumstances it is hardly surprising that 827 the working group has been unable to accomplish any startling achievements.
I will follow my hon. Friend in not seeking to refer specifically in detail to each of the seven countries which have been listed as difficult markets by the Publishers' Association. Perhaps it is unnecessary to do so, in any event, because the main common denominator of difficulty is this shortage of foreign currency in the importing countries; there may be other specific difficulties in individual countries, but that is, as I think my hon. Friend will agree, the main difficulty which the book trade encounters.
I think it would be convenient if I follow my hon. Friend in referring to the two countries which form the principal basis of the illustrations of his argument. He mentioned Pakistan as being the best example. He said that the allocation of sterling in Pakistan is inadequate for the demand for British books. I do not dissent from that. Pakistan is, of course, a very good illustration of my thesis that these difficulties arise from the acute shortage of foreign currency, with the added difficulty in Pakistan of the disorganisation of trade following on partition.
Our estimated total exports of books to Pakistan amounts to about £200,000 worth a year, and it has been claimed that this is much less than the potential demand—and I think that is clear. It has been claimed that it represents only about one half of the potential, but even so I think we should be careful not to get the matter out of focus. We have had an investigation made by our trade commissioners and it shows that the book needs of institutions such as schools, colleges and libraries in Pakistan are being met in full.
I might perhaps mention that £30,000 worth of British technical books are being supplied over a period of two years to libraries and institutions in Pakistan under the Colombo Plan. In addition, books worth£4,600 were recently given to the Dacca Public Library, and the British Council operates a scheme—a modest scheme, it is true, but a useful scheme—under which it may order books for individual students to the maximum of£12 per student per year.
828 Israel was my hon. Friend's other main example. Israel has, next to Pakistan, the largest potential demand for British books among these difficult markets. In Israel, owing to the acute economic difficulties, they have only a small import quota for books, whereas, as my hon. Friend said, American books are available outside the quota owing to their I.M.G. programme. Our Ambassador has recently reported that the Israeli Government are not willing to allow any arrangement that would serve to finance existing services in Israel. Nevertheless, there has been a suggestion for a modified form of the book export scheme for Israel, and the possibility of reaching some compromise arrangement which would not involve additional United Kingdom expenditure is being thoroughly investigated.
I shall come in a moment to the American aspect of this matter, as it figures largely in my hon. Friend's speech, but before I do so perhaps I might say, in reference to suggestions about West German export subsidies, that these suggestions have been carefully followed up by us on several occasions but have not revealed in fact the existence of arrangements which place German exporters at an unfair advantage over our own.
The Americans operate their Informational Media Guaranty programme in most of our difficult markets for books. Under the scheme, the importer pays the price of his purchases of American books into a central fund in his own country. The United States Government pays out a corresponding amount in dollars to the publisher and draws on the local fund for projects of economic, cultural and other aid. The central feature of the scheme is that the fund derived from the sale of American publications is used in conjunction with these projects of assistance to the countries concerned.
We should try to assess the impact of the scheme on the sales of British books in the countries where British books are readily available. The scheme is not a threat there because, as my hon. Friend has fairly pointed out, American book prices are generally higher than our own. Nevertheless the I.M.G. programme overcomes for American books the difficulties of import licensing and quantitative 829 restriction to which British books are still subject.
Naturally the question is raised by the Publishers' Association outside, and by my hon. Friend here today, "Could we do likewise and could we"—in my hon. Friend's phrase —" institute a countermeasure? "The answer, regretfully, to that is and must be "No". We have to consider the extent of the American scheme to see whether we could emulate it. In 1955–56 no less than 10 million dollars' worth of contracts was issued under the I.M.G. programme, no less than 6 million dollars' worth of which was for book purchases. The scale of the I.M.G. programme suggests that for us to match it would be very costly, and could not be envisaged at a time when financial commitments are subject to widespread reductions.
To illustrate the cost of such a scheme, it is estimated that for Pakistan it would he up to £200,000 a year and in Israel up to £100,000 a year, to be met out of taxpayers' pockets. My hon. Friend will appreciate the basic difference of the position of the United States from our own. We have not these large dollar 830 surpluses which they have, and which, in their case, find a convenient and appropriate outlet in substantial programmes of economic aid. Furthermore, the export trade is less important to America compared with the vital importance of our export trade to us, which makes the receipt of unblocked currency for our exports so necessary. There can be no question that, where the Americans lead in such matters, we can be expected automatically to follow.
My hon. Friend has done a service in raising this matter. The Government are aware of the importance of the book trade in the export field; but I must content myself with asking my hon. Friend to accept the assurance that the possibility of increasing our book sales in difficult markets will not be forgotten in the event of its being decided at some later date that new projects of economic aid or cultural services abroad could be examined in more favourable circumstances.
§ Question put and agreed to.
§ Adjourned accordingly at twenty-nine minutes past Four o'clock.