Commonwealth and International Economic Problems

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 2 December 1958.

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Photo of Mr Hervey Rhodes Mr Hervey Rhodes , Ashton-under-Lyne 12:00, 2 December 1958

I was about to add that they were near enough to be comparable. That applies to everything. A few moments ago, we were talking about sugar. The Chinese are undercutting all the sugar that comes into Hong Kong. They are putting it up in packets and selling it freely at low prices in the Far East.

During the anguish that Lancashire is undergoing, we should seriously consider whether the pattern that is emerging will be one which sets a standard for other consumer goods industries which will be similarly placed in another few months' time.

Let the Government think very carefully on this. If the home trade of Lancashire is, say, 2,000 million sq. yds. and Hong Kong is allowed to send in, for the sake of argument, 130 million sq. yds., what will happen when the new mill which is being put up by Communist China in Ceylon comes into production and Ceylon says, "Now, we want to enter the British market, too. You have allowed Hong Kong to come in." Shall we allow the Ceylonese to come in, too? We might agree if they can compete, but in time there will be some heartburning between individual members of the Commonwealth as well as in Lancashire if this problem is not settled as a principle before long.

I ask the Government to get down to this. If the time has gone when we can make a principle in the case of cotton, at least let the Government think it out so that we will be able to say to these people, "All right. So much and no further", which is a fair thing to do. If we take the situation in time, they will know where they are.

I hope that my remarks get back to the people in Hong Kong. I should like them to realise what we are up against here, and I hope that they put into operation a meticulous plan for the certificates of origin and the guaranteeing of the necessary fundamental information for the use they make of Imperial Preference. I say no more of that at the moment. I could, but it would not be opportune or fair to do so at present. I suggest that unless a move is made, I shall have to raise this matter at some other time.

The fact that the commodity prices have gone down distorts the thinking of a lot of our poorer members of the Commonwealth. They are thinking that there is a kind of talisman, a kind of magic, in industrialisation. Listen to this about how it is planning out in Ceylon. China asked Ceylon whether she needed assistance. Ceylon replied, "Yes." "In what field?" said China. "Rubber trees ", replied Ceylon;" they were tapped too much when the British were here." So the Chinese say to the Ceylonese, "All right. We will help and give you a grant for the renovation of your rubber plantations." "Thank you very much", said the Ceylonese, "that is nice. How will you do it?" "Well", said the Chinese, "we will give you a cotton mill to do it with." So the Ceylonese said, "How will a cotton mill do that for us?" The Chinese said, "You will be spending so much on the renovation of your rubber plantations. Spend that amount and we will give you a cotton mill of the value of what you spend."

The Ceylonese thought that was a very good idea until they inquired—some of them did not tell us when we were asking about it—what the snags were. The snags were that they had to pay for this cotton mill in ten years' time in any currency that the Chinese dictated. That is what I mean by the muddled thinking that is going on.

We are not tackling this job as seriously as we might. Too much lip-service is being paid to all this business of the Commonwealth and what it means without much effort on everybody's part. I feel that we shall be called upon to pay up. The other side is likely to bid us up, but in the present state of affairs, if they are exporting the labour of poor people in China to get in a bit of currency, surely we can outbid them today in terms of aid and economic assistance to the poorer folks in the free world. If we cannot do it now, we never shall. Unless it is done now, we shall lose the opportunity.

I ask the President of the Board of Trade and the other Ministers in charge for goodness sake to get going now with a stronger instrument than that which has been forged in Canada, with a secretariat that is able to move to any part of the world.