§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Secretary to the Board of Trade whether he is aware that, in consequence of the disorganisation in the cotton industry, mainly due to gambling operations in Liverpool, artificially raising the price of American cotton to 6d. a pound, the Federation of Master Employers in Lancashire have refused to meet the operatives' demand for a rise in wages; and that, as a result, the operatives have threatened to send in notices for a general strike to begin next month; whether he is aware that it is officially proved that the cause for this advance in the price of raw material is the outcome of misrepresentation in statistics and returns, and that President Roosevelt has ordered an official investigation; and whether he will confer with President Roosevelt with the object of adopting some international co-operative endeavour to prevent the evils arising from gambling operations in options and future contracts.
(Answered by Mr. Bonar Law.) It is a fact that there is a dispute pending between the employers and workpeople in the cotton-spinning trade with regard to the rate of wages. It is also a fact that the prevailing conditions in the cotton trade have been affected by a rise in the price of cotton accompanied by speculative gambling. As to the remainder of the Question, I have nothing to add to previous Answers.