§ 65. Mr. Gammansasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on the measures adopted by the Governments of Malaya and Singapore regarding destination control in the export of rubber; and to what extent agreement has been reached with other rubber-producing countries on the same lines.
§ Mr. J. GriffithsThe following statement was issued by the Governments of Singapore and the Federation of Malaya on 5th April:
"The Governments of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore have been informed by His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom that the latter are taking steps to exercise destinational control over rubber exports for the purpose of preventing unduly large quantities being sent to any destination so that insufficient supplies are left available for the United Kingdom and other friendly countries. His Majesy's 77W Government in the United Kingdom have invited the Governments of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore to collaborate with them in these measures. Accordingly the Governments of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore wish to announce that they intend to adopt measures similar to those effected in the United Kingdom by the Export of Goods (Control) Amendment Order No. 6 issued by the Board of Trade. In Singapore no alteration in licensing procedure is envisaged and intending exporters will continue to apply in the normal manner to the Controller of Imports and Exports. In the Federation the open general licence for rubber exports will be withdrawn with effect from 9th April, thereafter all rubber exports other than to Singapore will come under licensing control and the quantities sent to various destinations will be kept under continuous supervision. In order to avoid inconvenience to exporters the authority to approve exports will be delegated so far as possible to senior Customs officers at the main Customs stations and their advice as to procedure should be obtained as soon as possible by intending exporters. No special written applications for export licences will be necessary for shipments to the United Kingdom, the fully self governing countries of the British Commonwealth, the U.S.A., or the Irish Republic. In these cases authority to export will be endorsed by the Customs officer upon the ordinary export declaration. In all other cases written application should be made in advance for an export licence."
The answer to the second part of the Question is that this matter was not discussed with the Governments of other rubber-producing countries.