§ 17. Mr. Frank Allaunasked the President of the Board of Trade why, in view of the unemployment in the engineering industry, he is refusing import licences for £2 millions of Roumanian carcase beef which would provide sterling for the Roumanian trading organisations to purchase an equivalent value of engineering goods in this country.
§ Mr. ErrollI have to take into account not only the advantages which a quota for Roumanian beef might bring to our 1509 exporters but all other relevant considerations, including the situation on our own meat market.
§ Mr. AllaunIs not the sum of £2 million only 3 per cent. of our total beef imports, of which 73 per cent. come from the Argentine and other non-Commonwealth sources? Have not the Rumanians stated that they would apply this sum to buying British engineering and other products?
§ Mr. ErrollIn an already oversupplied market, an increase of even 3 per cent, could have an important effect on the general price level.
§ Sir H. HarrisonMay I congratulate my right hon. Friend on his stand in this matter? Gould he not apply the same principle to Argentine beef and thereby save the British taxpayer millions of £s?
§ Mr. ErrollFifty per cent. success is all I hope to achieve.
§ Mr. SnowDoes not our experience in the last 15 or 20 years show that the more we diversify our sources of supply of imported meat, the better? Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that inability to sell our engineering goods to the eastern countries of Europe, compared with the permission which the German Government allows itself, is creating a great deal of discontent? Is he not aware that certain elements of the engineering industry should be receiving his urgent attention in this matter, for instance, the machine tool industry?
§ Mr. ErrollWe must also remember that Argentina must not be denied the opportunity of earning the sterling to pay for the goods which she has already bought from us.