§ Captain ERSKINE-BOLSTasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that a proposal to set up a factory in Kenya Colony to manufacture sisal bags has been held up as a result of uncertainty as to whether it will be permitted to import these bags into the United Kingdom free of duty; and whether he will state the policy which it is intended to follow with regard to the importation of Colonial manufactured goods into the United Kingdom, so that existing and prospective manufacturing interests in the various Colonies may know their position?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI understand that the establishment of the proposed bag factory in Kenya has been deferred owing to technical considerations connected with the process of manufacture. The aim of the project is to supply the demand for bags in Kenya and not to export them, and there is no ground for suggesting that uncertainty as to the position in this country, if any such uncertainty exists, has contributed to the delay in setting up the proposed factory in Kenya. As regards the last part of the question, I would refer my hon. and gallant Friend to my replies to questions put by the hon. Member for Nuneaton (Mr. North) and the hon. Member for East Cardiff (Mr. T. Morris) on the 14th and 15th of last November.