§ Mr. MORELasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he is aware that the import taxes imposed by the French authorities in the occupied territories are rendering the import of raw materials from Britain virtually impossible; that export firms in the Cologne area doing a considerable export business with Britain and America are compelled, in order to obtain a reduction in the export and import taxes imposed by the French authorities upon goods entering and leaving that area, to grant to the French mission of control, for the exploitation of the Ruhr and Rhine pledges, concessions that, in practice, amount to trade espionage; and if representations will be made in the proper quarters to remedy a state of affairs prejudicial to British commercial interests?
§ Mr. LUNNI have been asked to reply. The import duties on raw materials levied in the occupied territory of Germany by the Franco-Belgian authorities are in most cases identical with those levied by the German Government in the rest of Germany, and I am not aware that they are such as to render importation from this country impossible. As regards the second part of the question, I am aware that, in order to secure concessions in respect of import and export duties, certain groups of manufacturers in Germany have concluded special agreements with the Franco-Belgian authorities. I shall be glad to learn of any cases in which it can be shown that these agreements have proved directly prejudicial to British interests, with a view to considering what action can usefully be taken in the matter.