§ MR. CHARLES HOBHOUSEI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he will state what was the amount of imports and exports of British goods into Tunis and Madagascar respectively, in the years immediately preceding the last agreements with France relating to those two countries; and what are the amounts of such imports and exports in 1903.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. GERALD BALFOUR,) Leeds, CentralThe Convention between Great Britain and France relating to Tunis was ratified in October, 1897. In 1896 the value of our direct imports from Tunis was about £62,000, and of our direct exports of British and Irish produce to Tunis about £216,000. In 201 1903 our imports amounted to about £254,000, and our exports to about £362,000. There has been no agreement with France relating to Madagascar before that recently signed. Our imports from Madagascar in 1903 amounted in value to about £58,000, and our exports of British and Irish produce thereto to about £35,000. In 1895, the year before the French law declaring Madagascar a French Colony was passed, our imports from that country amounted to £139,000, and our exports of British produce thereto to £66,000.