§ 2.35 p.m.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, I beg leave to ask Her Majesty's Government the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ [The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they have received the report of the Mixed Committee which dealt with the 1959 application of Herr Alfried Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach for an extension of time in which to sell an estimated 74 per cent. of his steel, iron and coal producing assets within five years under the 1953 Mehlem Deconcentration Agreement, and, if so, whether they will give a statement showing in detail the terms of the report.]
§ THE JOINT PARLIAMENTARY UNDER-SECRETARY OF STATE FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS (THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNE)My Lords, Her Majesty's Government have not yet received the Mixed Committee's report. The second part of the noble Viscount's Question therefore does not yet arise.
VISCOUNT ELIBANKMy Lords, arising out of that Answer, for which I beg to thank the noble Marquess, may I ask whether the attention of Her Majesty's Government has been drawn to the message from the British United Press on Friday last, that
Alfried Krupp, the West German industrialist, to-day formally combined his steel and coal mining enterprises into one company. He is the sole shareholder"?May I ask the noble Marquess whether this merger comes within the scope of the 1953 Mehlem Deconcentration Agreement, which is operated under Allied High Commission Law No. 27, which presumably is still in force?
§ THE MARQUESS OF LANSDOWNEMy Lords, I have no information of this B.U.P. report of April 22, but if the noble Viscount would be good enough to put down another Question, I should be only too pleased to try to answer it.