§ 2.48 p.m.
§ LORD WINSTERMy Lords, I beg to ask the first Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been called to a Press report with the headline "British Shipowners' 'Crime'" reporting that a witness before Senator McCarthy's investigating committee had alleged that ships of the Blue Funnel Line and of Wheelock Martin & Company, Limited, had had vessels trading with China as well as with other countries since the Korean war began which Senator McCarthy is said to have described as "the most inexcusable thing I ever heard of", and if these or any other British shipowners have in fact committed any act at variance with the United Nations resolution on the subject of trade with China and North Korea.]
THE PARLIAMENTARY UNDER SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF READING)My Lords, I have seen the Press report in question. It has not been the policy of Her Majesty's Government to restrict trade with China in non-strategic goods, and ships of the companies named have, together with many other ships, engaged in this business. Until the Control of Trade by Sea (China and North Korea) Order, 1953, there was, in fact, no law preventing British ships from carrying goods of any description to China from ports outside the United Kingdom and Colonies, but British shipowners, as was to be expected, have in practice shown commendable judgment in avoiding the carriage of goods evidently intended for war purposes. In a few isolated voyages only have items of some strategic importance been included in the mixed cargoes of British ships proceeding to China from ports outside the United Kingdom and Colonies. Such a proceeding was in no way illegal, and any uncertainty the owners may have felt about what is to be regarded as strategic and what is not has now been removed by the new regulations, which prohibit any British ship carrying to China goods on a scheduled list attached to a licence.
§ LORD WINSTERMy Lords, I thank the noble Marquess for that reply, which really gives me what I had hoped to get—namely, a complete vindication of a famous shipping line, and of British shipowners generally, who clearly had done nothing whatsoever in any way at variance with the United Nations resolution. But may I ask the noble Marquess whether he considers it either desirable or feasible to make some representations in this matter to the American Government? We quite understand that Senator McCarthy is carrying on a "smear" campaign in furtherance of his political ambitions—that is an affair for the United States with which we are not concerned. But when it comes to his making these slanderous statements about British shipowners, who have done nothing whatever wrong, it cannot have a very happy effect on Anglo-American relations, and I ask whether some representations can be made.
LORD STRABOLGIMy Lords, if it is so wrong for the British to trade with China, as appears to be advocated in certain quarters in America, has the noble Marquess seen the report in the Statist of May 9, in which it is reported:
…that a group of forty-five American representatives of large industrial companies has arrived in Hong Kong in order to investigate trade opportunities with Red China.…If we are making any representations, could we perhaps make inquiries about this kind of trade?
THE MARQUESS OF READINGMy Lords, I cannot pretend to universality in reading, although I read what opportunity offers. I have not read that particular passage which the noble Lord has quoted, but I shall read it, no doubt with interest, as soon as I am free from these proceedings so to do.