HC Deb 27 March 1919 vol 114 cc635-6W
Brigadier-General CROFT

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the fact that, owing to the removal of the control of paper without notice, distributing agencies in this country have very large stocks on hand which are unsaleable, and can only be disposed of at a loss; and whether, under these conditions, the Government will not insist on the payment of standard rates for waste paper collected throughout January, February, and March?

Mr. BRIDGEMAN

I have been informed that there are stocks of paper in the hands of certain distributors which at current prices show a loss. The Waste Paper Order, which is now withdrawn, provided not standard prices, but maximum prices. The Government have not insisted on the payment of the maximum prices in the past. Collectors have been left to make what bargains they pleased, subject to the maximum prices. The Government, therefore, does not propose to interfere with prices agreed to be paid for waste paper during the months of January, February, and March, which, provided they are within the maximum prices fixed by the Order, are matters of contract between buyer and seller.

Brigadier-General CROFT

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the fact that, by the sudden removal of restrictions on the importation of manufactured paper and paper-making materials, certain distributing agencies have had to shut down, and that paper mills in this country are in a similar position; whether, as a consequence, a large number of men and women will be forced on the list for unemployment benefit; and whether it would be to the advantage of this country to give such slight trade advantages to British paper industries as would enable them to continue to give employment?

Mr. BRIDGEMAN

My right hon. Friend has been kept informed of the conditions prevailing in the paper industry, and received a representative deputation of that industry on Tuesday, when the representations of paper-makers, distributors, and the trade unions concerned were placed before him. It is obviously to the advantage of the country that unemployment in the paper industry should be prevented, and he is giving the matter attention.