§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTI beg to ask the First Lord of the Treasury if, having regard to the serious decrease in the staple exports of British and Irish products indicated in the Trade and Navigation Returns for last month, side by side with the continued growth of the imports of like goods manufactured by foreigners, mainly from iron, cotton, and wool, and amounting to £81,679,227 for the year ending 28th February, and the consequences of this condition of affairs to British labour, he will either allow the Motion standing first on the Paper for Tuesday, 16th March, to come on, or, if the exigencies of the public service render this impossible, if he will afford other facilities for the consideration of the evil, and the remedy?
§ THE FIRST LORD OF THE TREASURYI am well aware of the interest which my hon. Friend has always taken in this question; but he will sympathise with the difficulties of a Leader of the House in finding time for discussions of this nature, and I cannot give a definite pledge on this subject.