§ 74. Lord John Hopeasked the President of the Board of Trade to what extent the chartering of foreign flag tonnage for the importation of timber from the North European countries has involved hard currency expenditure; and in particular what call upon our dollar resources the chartering of German tonnage for such shipments has created.
§ Mr. BottomleySince 1st January, 1949, the only hard currency expenditure involved is in Belgian francs to an equivalent value of about£13,000. Where German tonnage is used, it is chartered in sterling and payment made through the United Kingdom current trade account with Western Germany. This may involve the United Kingdom in a dollar liability, but it is impossible to say how far past dollar settlements have been necessitated by the chartering of German tonnage.
§ 75. Lord John Hopeasked the President of the Board of Trade how far the seasons timber shipment programme has been covered by chartering to date; and of the fixtures made, what quantities of sawnwood and pitprops, respectively, will have been shipped in British bottoms; and what quantities by German, Turkish, Panamanian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, Greek and other flag ships, respectively.
§ Mr. BottomleyThe timber shipment programme has been covered fully to date and no difficulty is expected in completing the chartering for the remainder of the season. It would be contrary to normal practice to disclose the extent to which the Timber Control will be on the 111W open market for tonnage in the coming months, but I give below figures showing the proportional participation of British, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, German and other ships in the carriage of sawnwood and pitprops already fixed.
Following are the figures:
Proportional extent to which the carriage of sawnwood and pitprops has been fixed between 1st January and 20th July, 1949, in British, Swedish, Norwegian. Finnish, German and other ships. Nationality of Ship Proportion of Carriage Sawnwood Pitprops per cent. per cent. British … … 29.0 42.0 Swedish … … 20.0 19.0 Norwegian … … 6.0 12.0 Finnish … … 8.0 12.0 German … … 4.0 6.0 Panamanian … … 4.0 4.0 Greek … … 4.0 4.0 Danish … … 2.5 1.0 Turkish … … 0.0 negligible All other … … 22.5 negligible