§ MR. FIELDTo ask the Prime Minister, whether, in face of the opinions expressed by the British President of the International Federation of Master Cotton Spinners and Manufacturers' Association at their International Cotton Congress held in London on the 15th ultimo, as to the time that must lapse before the British and their Continental neighbours can develop cotton-growing to the extent of the demand for manufactured cotton goods, and the necessity of attending to all sources of supply, especially from India, and further, taking into consideration the fact that the imports of East India cotton into Great Britain were killed many years ago by the somewhat similar gambling systems which, during the past few years, have also jeopardised the supplies of American cotton, His Majesty's Government propose International co-operation to cope with this evil and give support to the proposals of this International Congress to defeat cotton gamblers under the option and future systems as carried on in the American, British, Egyptian, and other cotton exchanges.
(Answered by Sir H. Campbell-Bannerman.) I am not prepared to admit the accuracy of the statements in the Question with regard to the imports of raw cotton into the United Kingdom from the East Indies. His Majesty's Government do not propose to take steps of the nature suggested.