THE EARL OF MANSFIELDasked His Majesty's Government whether they are aware that advertisements are appearing in the daily Press offering, at upwards of £100, fur coats made from musquash skins recently imported from the United States of America; whether they will state the number of dollars made available for the purchase of such, and similar, skins, in each of the last five years; and whether they do not consider that such dollars could be better expended upon the 1154WA purchase of food or petrol, rather than on these expensive and unnecessary luxuries.
LORD PAKENHAMImports of raw musquash and other raw fur skins from the United States of America are permitted under special arrangements designed to maintain the international fur market in London without incurring a loss of hard currency. Before imports can take place an equivalent amount of furs must have been exported to hard currency countries. Under these arrangements certain quantities of American furs are available for manufacture into fur coats for sale in this country. Figures of dollars allotted for purchases of fur skins from the United States of America in the last five years are not available. The trade has been making great efforts to earn dollars and the trade figures for the fourth quarter of 1949, the latest period for which figures are available, showed a favourable hard currency balance of £697,000 of which £303,000 was in American dollars.
House adjourned at half past five o'clock.