SIR HOWARD VINCENTI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if be is aware that eight of the largest iron and steel firms in the United States have combined their forces with a capital of £229.000.000, with the main object of destroying the iron and steel industries of the United Kingdom, the only market throughout the world open to them without a toll; and what steps His Majesty s Government propose to take to safeguard the interests of the principal staple trades in Great Britain and the workers dependent upon it.
§ MR. GERALD BALFOURI have no official information on the subject, but I believe from statements which have been publicly made that a combination of iron and steel firms in the United States is now in course of formation. I am not prepared to accept my hon. and gallant friend's statement of the main object of the combination, and I do not think that any action on the part of His Majesty's Government could usefully be taken.