HL Deb 03 May 1967 vol 282 cc1068-70WA
LORD NAPIER AND ETTRICK

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How they reconcile their undertaking to preserve the Funds of the Reserve Bank of Rhodesia for the benefit of the people of Rhodesia as a whole with their direction to the said Bank to pay out about £250,000 to a firm of West German bank-note printers.

LORD SHEPHERD

It is clearly in the interests of the people of Rhodesia as a whole that unauthorised persons should not purport to act in the name of the Reserve Bank of Rhodesia by, for example, ordering bank-notes. This was why the Board of the Bank found it necessary to take steps not only to protect its exclusive rights but also to prevent the notes coming into the possession of such unauthorised persons. This is in no way incompatible with Her Majesty's Government's stated intention to preserve as far as possible the assets of the Reserve Bank of Rhodesia for the future benefit of the people of Rhodesia as a whole.

House adjourned at twenty-three minutes before eight o'clock.