HC Deb 18 June 1903 vol 123 cc1303-4
MR. D. A. THOMAS

To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will consider the advisability of inviting the assistance of Colonial Governments in an investigation of the extent to which, in each of the colonies, the produce and manufactures of the colonies have in recent years displaced or are displacing similar British products hitherto imported; and the causes of such displacement, on lines corresponding to the invitation in respect to the inquiry into the displacement of British by foreign imports contained in his despatch of 28th November, 1895.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain.) The difficulties of investigating the movement of trade which does not pass through the Custom Houses appear to be insuperable, but the information already in our possession with regard to the exports of British and Irish produce to the colonies shows a large and continuous increase. The yearly average figures for the five-year periods 1876–1880, 1881–1885, 1886–1890, 1891–1895, 1896–1900, are as follows:—£67,455,270, £81,294,831, £81,186,508, £75,168,121, £86,043,165; and the figures for 1902 are £109,028,611.

MR. D. A. THOMAS

To ask the Secretary of State for the Colonies whether the further and fuller despatch on the subject of colonial products which might advantageously be exported to the United Kingdom or other parts of the British Empire contemplated in paragraph 7 of his despatch of 28th November, 1895, has been sent to Colonial Governors; and, if so, will a copy of the despatch, with the replies thereto, be laid upon the Table of the House.

(Answered by Mr. Secretary Chamberlain.) While the matter was still under consideration the Board of Trade appointed a Committee to consider the whole question of the collection and distribution of commercial intelligence. The Report of that Committee was laid before Parliament in 1898, and resulted in the establishment of the Commercial Intelligence Branch of the Board of Trade, by which such information as that intended to be collected is continuously collected and disseminated.