§ Mr. Bartlettasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies (1) whether he will take steps to remove the discontent caused in Palestine by the book import licence system, which discriminates even against English books that are already in Egypt and thus is not aimed solely at saving shipping space; and to what extent the distribution of reading matter to men serving in Iraq, Iran, Syria and the Lebanon is further complicated by the system of export licences from Palestine;
(2) whether, since under the present operation of the Palestine book importer licence system British newspapers have to be sold at a loss and, in view of the greatly enlarged demand for British books, magazines and newspapers throughout the countries of the Middle East, he will re-examine and co-ordinate the allocation of shipping space for reading material destined for those countries;
(3) whether he will represent to the Government of Palestine that it should co-opt leading members of the book and newspaper trades to advise it in technical matters concerning those trades?
§ Mr. Emrys-EvansThe High Commissioner for Palestine is being asked for a report on all the matters referred to by the hon. Member and my right hon. and gallant Friend will communicate with him as soon as a reply is received.