asked the President of the Board of Trade if he will introduce amending legislation so as to allow the Monopolies Commission to inquire into complaints of excessive prices charged by those operating patents in the United Kingdom.

No, Sir. There is no need for amending legislation. There are already provisions in the Patents Act designed to remedy abuse of monopoly rights, and under existing monopolies legislation, the Monopolies Commission could investigate complaints of this sort, where they were relevant to an inquiry which the Board of Trade had asked it to make.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that these inquiries have not, in fact, been made? In view of the increasing extent to which synthentic materials are being used, will he see that attention is drawn to the excessive prices now being charged by some manufacturers?

If the hon. Gentleman will give me details of any cases which he has in mind, we shall look into them.