§ MR. D. A. THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to a recent consular report from Pernau stating that the quantity of coal imported into that port during the year 1901 amounted to 37,220 tons, of which 20,695 were British and 16,525 West-phalian, while in 1900, the year before the imposition of the coal duty, 40,375tons, all British, were imported; and will he say when the report will be presented to Parliament; and, seeing that the general decline in trade activity has been this year accompanied by an increased total exportation of British coal when bunker coal is added, will he say whether he has official information assigning any reason for the particular result the general decline has had at Pernau.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Balfour.) The consular report referred to has already been presented to Parliament (No. 2911, Annual Series), and if the hon. Member will consult it, he will see that the experience of the buyers of Westphalian coals at Pernau was such that the British Vice-Counsul does not think those coals are likely to be imported there again. As regards the cause of the decline, the general remarks that I made on the subject in the answer which I gave to the hon. Member on Monday last apply to the case of Pernau.