asked the Minister of Works if he will give a list of undertakings in order of priority for receiving cement allocations.

Special priority has been given to power stations (including hydroelectric stations), gas works, coal/oil conversion plants, projects to assist the production and transport of coal, and atomic energy projects. In addition, special action is taken to arrange for supplies for housing work, development area factories, and other urgent work where special difficulty arises.

Is the Minister aware that owing to his interference with the law of supply and demand there is now no cement for housing?

I do not accept the hon. Gentleman's statement that no supplies of cement are available for housing. There is the question of the distribution to sites but I am sure that if we left it to the law of supply and demand the needs of housing would get small consideration.

Will the right hon. Gentleman see that the tile works which require cement get some, because if builders cannot get the tiles they cannot complete the houses?

We are giving special consideration to that.

Would the Minister agree that if the cement industry was as efficient as it should be, there would not be this shortage of cement?

Did the Minister intend to assure the House that there is no shortage of cement, apart from its distribution?

I was not asked to deal with the question of shortage of cement, but with its distribution. There is a shortage of cement arising out of the fuel difficulties in the early part of the year. Production is now increasing, and by the end of the month I think that we shall have overcome our difficulties.

asked the Minister of Works if he is aware that cement to the value of £1,093,000 was exported in the four months ended 30th April, 1947; and if he proposes to continue the export of cement at this level.

The quantity exported in this four months was 303,750 tons. This rate of export has now been reduced to about 50,000 tons per month, almost all of which is for destinations specially approved by the Government.

Is the Minister unaware that there was a fuel crisis when he decided to export this cement, and is he aware that in Cornwall and the West of England the housing programme is considerably curtailed because of the lack of cement?

If this cement had not been exported other difficulties might have arisen.

Can the Minister give the destinations which received special Government approval?

In the main, it was destined for projects in the Colonies sponsored by the Colonial Governments and supported by the Colonial Office.

Will the right hon. Gentleman bear in mind that the programme of building council houses and other vital buildings is being seriously interfered with by the shortage of cement?

I am quite aware of that, and I will do all that I can to see that difficulties arising in special areas, due very largely to transport difficulties in the South-West, are overcome.

May I ask the Minister whether the difficulties of distribution to which he has referred are not due to centralised control by a totalitarian Government?

Will my hon. Friend say whether the cement was exported by a Government Department specifically, or by private enterprise manufacturers?

asked the Minister of Works why so long a time elapsed between the presentation to him of the Report on Cement Costs and its publication.

The interval is accounted for by the consideration of the Report and its preparation for publication.

Is it not an unhappy coincidence that all the reports presented to the right hon. Gentleman's Department have had a very long period of delay, and if the right hon. Gentleman must go on taking up the paper so badly needed for book publication, cannot he at least publish these reports in adequate time?

They are published after due consideration, and consideration of the needs of other publications.