MR. CHARLES APARTHUR (Liverpool, Exchange)To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the injury caused to the shipping trade of the United Kingdom by bounties on foreign shipping, and by the exclusion of British vessels from the coasting trade of various ft reign Powers, the Government have considered the advisability of adopting means to remove or countervail such bounties, as also to secure the re-admission of British vessels to the trades from which they are now excluded, if needful by making the admission of foreign vessels to the British and colonial trade of the Empire conditional upon reciprocal treatment as regards British vessels, as recommended by the Select Committee on Shipping Subsidies and the Conference of Colonial Premiers; and whether the interests of the British shipping trade will in all respects be fully taken into account in connection with the fiscal inquiry now proceeding.
(Answered by Mr. Gerald Bulbar.) The answer is in the affirmative.