§ 69. Sir T. Mooreasked the President of the Board of Trade to what extent he estimates his housing programme may be accelerated as a result of the timber provided for under the Marshall Plan and the Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement, respectively.
36W
§ Mr. BottomleyIt is not possible to estimate at the present stage what timber may become available to this country under the European Recovery Plan. Regarding timber under the Anglo-Soviet Trade Agreement, I have no doubt that in the negotiations for which provision is made in the recent agreement, the question of timber will arise, and we shall hope to conclude a satisfactory agreement for such timber as is available. As to the housing programme, I would refer the hon. and gallant Member to the White Paper on Capital Investment in 1948 (Cmd. 7268) from which it will be seen that the programme is to be reviewed in the summer in the light of the amount of timber which we are likely to import this year.