§ 25. Mr. Hawkinsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will give an assurance that British citizens will be enabled to continue to correspond and communicate with their relatives in Rhodesia and vice versa.
§ Mr. FoleyAs my right hon. Friend told the House on 24th June, we are carrying out a fresh study of what, in present circumstances, a ban on communications with Rhodesia would involve. No decision to impose such a ban has yet been taken.—[Vol. 785, c. 1220.]
§ 33. Mr. Evelyn Kingasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will name those nations pledged to enforce Rhodesian sanctions who are known to be in breach of them; and what is his estimate of the value of the goods involved in the last 12 months.
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36. Mr. Colin Jacksonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the current operation of sanctions against Rhodesia.
§ 38. Mr. William Hamiltonasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a further statement on Her Majesty's Government's recent efforts to increase the effectiveness of sanctions against the illegal régime in Rhodesia.
§ Mr. FoleyWe are continually trying to make sanctions more effective. In this context I would refer to the second report of the United Nations Sanctions Supervisory Committee, the addendum thereto and the communiqué issued by the Commonwealth Sanctions Committee on 27th June, copies of which are in the Library of the House. I have no reason to believe that the total figure is appreciably different from that for 1968.
§ 34. Sir F. Bennettasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what arrangements he has made with the Government of the Union of South Africa to permit free and unrestricted access from Rhodesia for British subjects, citizens of the United Kingdom and Colonies and British protected persons, especially Africans in all three categories, to enable them to visit the British Embassy and Consulate in Pretoria in connection with the issue of passports or for any other reason.
§ 35. Mr. Hastingsasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what estimate he has made of the cost of sanctions against Rhodesia to the British economy for the current financial year: and what steps he is taking to offset the cost in future.
§ Mr. FoleyThe direct cost to the Exchequer of our sanctions policy in the financial year 1969–70 is expected to be about £4 million. The cast to the balance of payments cannot be precisely estimated but is expected to be slightly less than the cost of £40 million for the 237W calendar year 1966 given by my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister to the House on 16th March, 1967.—[Vol. 743, c. 151–2.]
§ 63. Mr. Bruce-Gardyneasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on how many occasions since the imposition of sanctions on trade with Rhodesia ships of Dutch registration have been stopped by units of the Royal Navy on suspicion of sanctions-breaking; on how many of these occasions complaints were made to the Dutch Government or against the Dutch Government at the United Nations; and in how many instances were the suspicions subsequently discovered to have been unfounded.
§ Mr. FoleySince 1966 two ships of Netherlands registration have been stopped for investigation by the Beira Patrol in the course of ensuring that no oil destined for Rhodesia is delivered to Beira. Neither ship was found to be carrying oil for Rhodesia.