VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government, with reference to Board of Trade Notice to Importers No. 921, (1) on what commercial grounds the imports from China of silk piece goods for home retention for the period January 1 to December 31, 1960, have been limited to a value of £250,000; and (2) in what way the introduction of this quota limitation will assist the expansion of British trade with China.]
921§ LORD MILLSMy Lords, the import quota for Chinese silk goods was set at a figure which would allow the level of imports in recent years to continue. The Board of Trade are in consultation with the trade interests concerned, and propose both to consider sympathetically applications for licences required to cover firm orders placed before the control was announced and to review the course and level of these imports in a few month's time.
In reply to the second half of the Question, the quota limitation is designed to regulate the course of British trade with China and can be modified at any time, should this be required, to meet the possibilities of increased British trade with China.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, I beg to thank the noble Lord for his Answer, particularly to the first part of my Question, out of which I hope there may be happy results. With regard to his reply to the second part of the Question (and this supplementary arises directly out of that), is the noble Lord aware that, whilst these quota limitations must obviously place strings on British trade with China, at the same time West Germany is going all out on a planned trade campaign in order to obtain trade hegemony in Chinese markets, her sales to China being approximately double ours? If that campaign continues at that rate, will not the outlook for British trade, ten years hence or less, be very dim?
§ LORD MILLSMy Lords, perhaps I can reply very briefly to that by saying that our trade with China is also an increasing one, and we hope that this will continue.