§ 21. Colonel Stoddart-Scottasked the President of the Board of Trade how much British wool has been made into piecegoods in Italian mills on a commission basis during the last year; how much cloth has been returned to this country; how much has been re-exported as British-made cloth; and if he will bring the scheme to an end in order to prevent abuse and in view of the threat to our export market.
§ Sir S. CrippsSome 55,000 bales of wool were sold from the United Kingdom stock-pile during the first six months of this year for processing in Italy, but I regret that information is not available about the precise quantity which was processed into piecegoods. I understand, however, that the great bulk of this wool was processed into yarns and not piecegoods. With regard to the second and third parts of the Question, 656,000 lbs. of piecegoods have been licensed during 1946 for import from Italy; 320,000 lbs. were for re-export and the remainder was specially licensed for the home trade to meet urgent needs. I have no information that any of these piecegoods have been marketed as British made. With regard to the last pan of the Question, I consider that this trade is advantageous to this country, and, accordingly, I am not prepared to place a ban on these processing schemes.