§ Sir J. D. REESasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the enemy Government has confiscated stocks at Plauen, in Saxony, belonging to Nottingham merchants; and whether His Majesty's Government proposes to take possession of enemy-owned stocks held in this country by the agents of enemy manufacturers in order to ensure fair barter on behalf of our own merchants?
Mr. ROBERTSONI am not aware of the circumstances referred to in this question, and such information as is in my possession goes to show that no general confiscation has been put into practice in Germany, though the German Government are understood to have sequestrated enemy property in Customs warehouses and to have taken powers to dispose of it, if thought fit, for the purpose of compensation to German creditors. The policy of His Majesty's Government in regard to this matter is embodied in the trading with the Enemy Amendment Bill now before Parliament.