§ Mr. Edenasked the President of the Board of Trade what action he proposes to take on the 1958 Report of the Monopolies Commission on the Supply of Imported Timber; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. MaudlingYes. The Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Commission in its 1953 Report on the Supply of Imported Timber found that, while there were no price rings on a national scale, agreements in the trade by which importers undertook to buy only through agents on an approved list and the agents undertook to sell only to importers on similar lists should be abrogated and should not be replaced by any other arrangements or undertakings with similar effects. In correspondence with the Minister of Materials in 1954 the Timber Trade Federation undertook to comply with the recommendations. The Commission in its 1958 Report, on whether and to what extent its 1953 recommendation had been complied with, found that the original agreement had been duly abrogated but that in the hardwood and softwood sections of the trade other arrangements had been made whose effects were similar to those in the original agreement.
I have accepted the findings of the Commission and I am laying before Parliament an Order relating to imported hardwood and softwood timber which will prohibit the making or carrying out of such agreements or arrangements with similar effects. This Order will be subject to affirmative Resolution.
The Timber Trade Federation has assured me that there had been a genuine misunderstanding on the part of its members as to the purport of the recommendations by the Monopolies Commission in its 1953 Report and so of the extent of its own undertakings. I entirely accept this assurance.