§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Transport why, in view of the importance of export trade and of the fact that Singapore merchants find great difficulty in obtaining shipping space for goods, ships are allowed to leave British ports for Singapore with empty cargo space.
§ Mr. BarnesThere is adequate provision of cargo space for this trade and according to my information there are no arrears of export cargo available for shipment from the United Kingdom to Malaya up to the present time. If the hon. Member has any specific instance of difficulty in mind I will have investigations made on receiving further information. Empty space on these outward sailings may be explained by the necessity for
288WAberdeen; and how many for other destinations.
§ Mr. BarnesThe following is the information:
reserving space to load cargo en route or by last minute delay in the delivery of cargo for shipment.