asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he has now reconsidered the regulations governing the import and export of postage stamps; and whether he will now relax these to enable British amateur philatelists to make exchanges with those in other countries without using the restrictive procedure required by his Department.

Barter transactions of postage stamps are already permitted, on certain conditions, under an open general licence. For currency reasons, I am not prepared to relax present restrictions on the export of stamps without a corresponding importation.

Is the President of the Board of Trade aware that his Parliamentary Secretary on 23rd October advised me in writing that he recognised the restrictive nature of the present regulations in preventing very small transactions, and that urgent reconsideration was to be given to this matter?

The matter has been reconsidered, and in view of the dangers, it has been found impossible to relax the regulations.