HC Deb 13 May 1958 vol 588 cc194-6
14. Mr. Osborne

asked the President of the Board of Trade if, in view of the fact that rubber has dropped to 1s. 9d. per lb. in the United Kingdom, the lowest price for four years, and that the prices of metals, like copper, tin, nickel, and aluminium have been saved only by drastic cuts in production, he will explore the possibility of calling a special conference of all industrialised countries in order to produce some price stability in raw materials; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Vaughan-Morgan

No, Sir. The Government's attitude to this important problem was fully explained by my right hon. Friend, the President of the Board of Trade, in his speech in the Budget Debate on 16th April.

Mr. Osborne

Is my hon. Friend aware that that is a disappointing reply? Does he realise that, in North Malaya, for example, of the 497 tin mines, 144 are closed, and that of the 41 tin dredges, 10 are not operating, and 20 per cent. of the workers are unemployed? Is not it stupid for us to be spending £1,500 million a year on armaments to contain Communism while doing nothing to help its containment when it is coming in at a back door in the Far East? Will he look at the matter again?

Mr. Vaughan-Morgan

I thought that it was rather a disappointing Question, because it proved that my hon. Friend had not read my right hon. Friend's speech. I hope that he will now remedy the omission. We certainly do not exclude the possibility of stabilisation arrangements for particular commodities, but I must remind my hon. Friend that the International Tin Agreement took many years to achieve.

Mr. H. Wilson

Does the Minister appreciate that the whole House shares the confusion of the hon. Member for Louth (Mr. Osborne) about the Government's attitude to this question? Is he aware that, when it was first proposed by us as early as last October, it was turned down flat in a speech by the President of the Board of Trade, and that his speech in April added nothing except a vague reference to discussions at the Commonwealth Conference, but that, when the question was raised by the hon. Member for East Aberdeenshire (Sir R. Boothby), the Prime Minister promised to consider it most sympathetically? Will the hon. Gentleman now give us some action instead of all these equivocating Answers?

Mr. Vaughan-Morgan

I will draw the attention of my right hon. Friend to the right hon. Gentleman's remarks, but I still think that the Government's policy is perfectly clear. The basic problem is a general one of maintaining a high and stable level of world demand.