§ Mr. ALFRED SHORTasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department whether four investigators have been sent out by his Department to inquire into the prospects and conditions of the market for jewellery and electroplate in South America, the engineering trade in Brazil, the confectionery trade in South America, and the market for motor vehicles in Australia and the Far East; whether he can give the names of the trade associations with whom these investigators are co-operating; whether any of the members of the trade associations will accompany these investigators, or what form will the co-operation take; what proportion, if any, of the expenses of the investigation will be borne by the trade associations; whether the result of the investigations will be published or available for use by firms not connected with the trade associations in question and by the trade unions concerned; whether any other investigations of a similar 386W character are in contemplation; and, if so, if he will inform the House of their nature?
§ Sir A. STEEL-MAITLANDI would refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave on 3rd April to the hon. Member for South Leicester. The inquiry into the market for jewellery and electroplate in South America is being undertaken in co-operation with the London Wholesale Jewellers' and Allied Trades Association, the Birmingham Jewellers' and Silversmiths' Association, and the Sheffield Master Silversmiths' Association; the inquiry into the engineering trade in Brazil in co-operation, with the British Engineers' Association; the inquiry into confectionery in South America in co-operation with the British Confectioners' Manufacturing Export Union, and the inquiry into the market for motor vehicles in Australia and the Far East in co-operation with the Association of British Motor and Allied Manufacturers. In each case a single investigator chosen by the associations concerned and approved by the Department has been sent out, and it has not been proposed that any members of the Trade Associations should accompany the investigators. One-half of the cost of each of the investigations referred to is being borne by the Department of Overseas Trade, and the other half by the Association or Associations concerned.
It is proposed that the results of the investigations shall be available in the first instance to members of the associations concerned and other firms who have contributed towards their cost, and that after a certain period the Department will be free to publish them to other firms and associations. It is contemplated to continue the dispatch of investigators to examine the markets for British products in various countries abroad, but at the present time the only concrete proposal for investigation of a similar character to those mentioned above is for one into the engineering trade in Chile and Peru. Suggestions for the dispatch of a committee to investigate the markets for cotton textiles in the East have also been discussed by the Department of Overseas Trade with representatives of Lancashire trades, and it is understood that the latter are formulating definite proposals for submission to His Majesty's Government.