§ 5. Mr. Aitkenasked the Under-Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations when the Commonwealth Economic Committee will have completed its inquiry into Commonwealth raw materials; and when the Report will be available.
§ Mr. AlportI would refer my hon. Friend to my Answer to a similar Question from my hon. Friend the Member for Essex, South-East (Mr. Braine) on 21st November.
§ Mr. AitkenWithout in any way denigrating the usefulness of those Reports, which, however, are mainly only economic information services, may I ask my hon. Friend whether he does not think it is probably time now to initiate a really effective investigation of the raw materials position in the Commonwealth, possibly along the lines of the Paley report in the United States or of the Gordon Commission in Canada?
§ Mr. AlportI understand that the Committee's Report, the first volume of which is now in being, is really along those lines, but if my hon. Friend has any further views on this, perhaps it would be better for us to discuss it together.