§ Mr. PERCYasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that paper manufacturers in Canada and other centres within the British Empire are prepared to land large stocks of paper in this country at 3d. per lb. of a quality which is now being sold in the United States at less than that sum while the control price in this country is 4⅜-½d. per lb.;and whether the Government will take prompt steps to alter such control price in the public interest to the approximate present-day value of the paper?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI am aware that offers of Canadian newsprint are reported to have been made on the basis of 3d. per lb. delivered here. I am not aware that any other countries within the British Empire are prepared to land stocks of paper in this country at that price or that newsprint of the same quality is being sold in the United States at less than 3d. per lb., though the reported prices of newsprint delivered in the United States are below 3d. per lb. The latest so-called control price in this country is that fixed for November and December, 1918, and is 4½d. This price was fixed by the Controller on a cost basis agreed between the manufacturers and the consumers. The matter is receiving serious consideration, and an announcement will be made at an early date.