HC Deb 30 July 1959 vol 610 cc656-8
8. Mr. Fisher

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is yet in a position to make a statement on the West Indian citrus industry negotiations.

19. Mr. Blenkinsop

asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he is now in a position to make a statement on the decisions reached as a result of the negotiations with the citrus delegation from the West Indies Federation; and what have been the reasons for the delay.

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

Yes, Sir. The discussions with the West Indian delegation concluded yesterday. The objective of the talks was to work out a comprehensive five-year plan for the industry; and agreement was reached with the delegation on such a plan, which will now be considered by the Governments of the West Indies and British Honduras. Agreement was also reached on the lines of a new four-year arrangement to cover the sale of concentrated orange juice for the United Kingdom welfare scheme. The talks were somewhat protracted because they had to survey the whole field of problems facing the citrus industry in the West Indies, and this involved a number of complex technical, agricultural, financial and trade questions. An agreed statement was issued at the conclusion of the talks, and with permission I will circulate the text of this in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Mr. Fisher

I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement. Is he aware of the gratitude expressed to me by members of the West Indian delegation for the help they received from the Colonial Office in these long negotiations, and also for his personal intervention despite his many other preoccupations this week, which was instrumental in converting deadlock into decision and even accord?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I thank my hon. Friend very much.

Mr. Blenkinsop

Can the right hon. Gentleman say whether he is satisfied that the four-year period that he has mentioned will be sufficient to enable the industry to build up and meet possible competition from America and elsewhere?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

It was a five-year period for research and development and a four-year period for the orange juice contract. Yes, I think it is sufficient, and that is also the view of the delegation.

Mr. Bottomley

I should like to associate this side of the House with the compliment that has been paid to the Colonial Secretary for getting a settlement with the West Indies delegation, but may I ask him not to hang it out so much that it creates great uncertainty, so that even now, although the delegation is satisfied, it is not absolutely confident that the future is secure?

Mr. Lennox-Boyd

I do not think that even eight or ten weeks is too long in which to get agreement and to settle a very complicated and important subject touching the future of the West Indies for the next five years.

Following is the text of the agreed statement:

Discussions at the Colonial Office with a delegation from the West Indies and British Honduras, led by Dr. C. G. D. La Corbiniere, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federation of The West Indies, concluded today, Wednesday, July 29, 1959.

The delegation included agricultural and technical advisers; and the discussions covered the whole field of problems facing the citrus industries of the West Indies and British Honduras, especially in regard to the need for research and development schemes, and for a degree of market assurance in the United Kingdom, to which the industry looks as its main market.

During the currency of the price assistance scheme for the industry which was operative from 1955 to June, 1959, a number of expert reports on different aspects of the industry was made. In the light of these, detailed work was carried out during the present discussions on the outlines of plans to safeguard and develop the industry.

A plan for a research unit for the industry was worked out and is under consideration by the Colonial Agricultural Research Committee.

The broad outlines of a development plan to assist growers in the application of larger quantities of fertilisers were worked out. Such a plan would of necessity be a matter for consideration by the Governments of the West Indies and British Honduras, and will be taken up with those Governments by the delegation on its return.

The delegation represented that plans for research and development would be rendered ineffective unless measures could be taken to give the industry a sufficient degree of market assurance over a period of five years. The nature and extent of the risks facing the industry were fully discussed. The problems of trade policy involved are complex and there was agreement on the ways in which Her Majesty's Government would seek solutions.

Other matters discussed with the delegation included the long-term contract for the sale of West Indian and British Honduras concentrated orange juice for the United Kingdom welfare scheme, which comes to an end in 1960. Agreement was reached on the lines of a new arrangement to cover the succeeding four years.

The objective of the discussions was to work out plans designed to raise the yields of the industry and thereby place it in a position, by the end of the development period, to meet fair competition from any quarter. The plans discussed were related as a whole to this objective, and the discussions, necessarily involving many technical, agricultural, financial and trade problems, were successful in drawing up the broad outlines of a comprehensive five-year plan for the industry.

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