HOUSE OF COMMONS

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 December 1935, Page 7

HOUSE OF COMMONS

COTTON SPINDLES BOARD.[BRITISH OFFICIAL WIRELESS.] RUGBY, December 12. Provisions for the establishment of a Spindle Board with power to acquire redundant cotton-spinning plant, etc., and to borrow up to £2,000,000 for the purpose, are contained in the Government’s Cotton Spinning Industry Bill, which has been introduced in the Commons. A financial and explanatory memorandum states that the sums required for service of the loan and for payment of thq„ Board’s administrative expenses will be provided out of the proceeds of a levy on cotton-spinning machinery, which the Bill obliges the owners of cotton mills to pay to the Board. It is anticipated that the Board will be self-supporting, but the Bill provides that in the event of the levy being found insufficient, the Board of Trade is to assist the Spindles Board by making good deficits in the latter’s revenue and expenditure account, and by making such advances as are necessary to avoid any default on the loan obligations of the Spindles Board. DEFENCE LOAN. At question time in the Commons, the Chancellor of the Exchequer was asked whether the money required for the reorganisation of the Navy and Air Force, would be raised by way of loans, or met from ordinary revenue. In reply, he recalled that the Government’s proposals for making good the deficiencies in the Defence Forces had not yet been formulated, and added that until that were done, it would be premature to consider whether any part of the cost should be met by loan.

JAPAN AND MANDATES. Mr. Stanley Baldwin, in reply to a question, said that Japan having ceased to be a member of the League of Nations, has no legal right to equality of treatment in commercial matters in the mandated territories, under provisions of the mandates. On the other hand, at the present time, the Anglo-Japanese commercial treaty of 1911 extends to certain mandated territories administered by His Majesty’s Government, and by virtue of that treaty, Japan possesses the most favoured nation rights, on a reciprocal basis, so long as these extensions remain in force.