§ Mr. Donnerasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he will issue a list giving particulars of the cases of interference with, and collectivisation of, assets of companies, wholly or partially British-owned and/or managed, trading in territory under the control of the Valencia Government, including Catalonia?
§ Mr. EdenIt would, as I explained to my hon. Friend on 6th December, be impossible for me to give, in answer to a question, full particulars of the cases of interference with such assets. As regards, however, the more specific question of the cases in which wholly or partially British-owned enterprises have been the subject of collectivisation or of the intervention of workers' committees or of the Spanish Government my information is that at 835W least 35 such firms have been affected. At the same time I must emphasise that it is impossible for me to guarantee the comprehensive character of my information and that, since further particulars of losses, suffered by British interests in this connexion are still being received by His Majesty's Government, the present total must necessarily be regarded as incomplete.
Over and above these instances, my hon. Friend will no doubt be aware that British banks and insurance companies have been subjected to varying degrees of Governmental intervention, and that certain mines in which British capital is invested have, especially in the provinces of Murcia and Cartagena, been taken over by the Government.