§ Mr. Hareasked the Secretary for Overseas Trade, as representing the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, 28W whether, in view of the improvement in the newsprint position shown in the recent report of the Pulp and Paper Committee of the International Materials Conference, he will now free local weekly newspapers from tonnage rationing.
§ Mr. HopkinsonMy noble Friend attaches great importance to the value of the work done by local weekly newspapers. He believes that while the shortage of newsprint is by no means over the supplies now expected should shortly be sufficient to make it possible to release them from tonnage rationing and enable them if they so wish to publish up to the maximum paging permitted by the Control Orders. But this is a matter which is the concern of the Newsprint Rationing Committee who represent the newspapers as a whole, and I will refer the matter to them for advice since the interests of other newspapers are also involved.