HC Deb 02 March 1883 vol 276 cc1258-9
MR. ANDERSON

asked the President of the Board of Trade, If his attention has been called to contradictory Tables in the Suez Canal Report, No. 41; if he has observed that the French Table (D. VII.) shows the trade of France with China to have been in some years from two to ten times greater than the Chinese Table (D. V.) states China to have had with all the continental Countries of Europe put together; and, if he can say which Table is correct?

MR. CHAMBERLAIN,

in reply, said, his attention had been called to these Tables. He did not think that they were necessarily contradictory; but they, no doubt, required some explanation to make them intelligible. The Tables (D. VII.) were from French Official Returns, and the Tables (D. V.) were from the Returns of the Chinese Imperial Manager of Customs; and he thought that these were Tables referring only to the exports from Treaty ports, and that, probably, they excluded from consideration all the exports from Hong Kong and Macao, and some other ports, and that in that way the discrepancy might be accounted for.