§ Mr. REMERasked the President of the Board of Trade whether Mr. M. L. Meyer and Mr. P. B. Meyer occupy any executive position on behalf of the Government at the present moment; and, if not, when their appointment lapsed?
§ Sir P. LLOYD-GREAMENeither Mr. M. L. Meyer nor Mr. P. B. Meyer occupy any executive position on behalf of the Government. Their appointment in the Timber Supplies Department terminated on 15th May last.
§ Mr. REMERasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that, in 1908, the principal of the firm of Messrs. W. M. Hillas and Company, Limited, was connected with the firm of Hillas, Sherwood, and Hewitt, and in October of that year this firm failed in business; that Mr. Hillas then started business in a small way as a timber broker, and conducted only small transactions, and was in a weak financial position until Mr. Meyer, on behalf of the Government, gave him open and unsecured credit to the amount of £600,000; that, by the rules of the trade, a timber broker does not buy and sell parcels of timber; that Mr. Meyer has written to several other brokers stating that under no circumstances would he sell timber outright to timber brokers; and whether, under these circumstances, he would cause a committee of inquiry to be set up to go fully into the details connected with this transaction?
§ Sir P. LLOYD-GREAMEI have ascertained that Mr. W. N. Hillas was a partner in the firm of Hillas and Hewitt,684W which executed a deed of arrangement in the year 1908. The objects of W. N. Hillas & Co., Ltd., included the business of timber merchants as well as that of timber brokers. As regards the financial position of W. N. Hillas & Co., Ltd., the hon. Member has already been informed in reply to a previous question that the company has paid off approximately 90 per cent, of the credit given to them, and I do not propose to appoint a committee of inquiry.