§ Mr. Liddallasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is collecting detailed information about the dispute between the growers and buyers of cocoa in West Africa; whether he will obtain two copies of the West African cocoa-pool contract and place one in the Library; and whether he will deal with the West African cocoa transactions when the Colonial Office Vote comes up for debate, with a view to assisting towards a solution of the threatened deadlock and avoidance of future ill-feeling?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part of the question, the agreement, which cannot properly be described as a cocoa-pool contract," is a purely private one concluded between a certain number of firms, and I could not place it in the Library without their consent. As regards the third part of the question, I hope that the present difficulties will have disappeared long before the Colonial Office Vote comes up for debate, but I doubt whether the discussion of the action of certain private firms trading in the Gold Coast would be in order in Committee of Supply.