SIR GILBERT PARKERI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade, when the proposed new wage census will be taken; what departures, if any, will be made from the form of schedule issued to employers for the 1886 census; whether information will be sought as to the maximum and minimum number of hours worked by the employees of the various firms; whether trade unions will he invited to make supplementary returns; and whether any steps are proposed to secure a larger percentage of returns than in 1886, when only 13½ per cent. of the schedues issued were returned.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEIt is proposed that the wages census shall relate to the present year and shall be taken as soon as possible after its termination. The forms of schedule are now under consideration, but I may say that the experience gained since 1886, will be utilised to amend the forms issued to employers, care being taken to preserve the comparability of the figures so far as possible. Information as to hours of labour will be sought and trade unions will be invited to give certain information as to wages and hours. In view of the improvement of the mode of procedure and the increasing willingness of employers to furnish returns to the Department, it is confidently hoped that a much larger number of returns will be obtained than in 1886.
§ * MR. DAVID MACIVER (Liverpool, Kirkdale)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is in a position to give the House any informa- 926 tion with regard to the export and import trade of France, Germany, and the United States, for the purpose of comparison with the trade of this country, and particularly as to whether he has any official information showing that the export and import trade of these protectionist countries has during recent years increased much more considerably than our own.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEThe information asked for is contained in the "Statistical Abstract of Foreign Countries" and the "Monthly Returns of Foreign Trade and Commerce," published by the Board of Trade. In 1905 the exports of British produce from the United Kingdom increased by about 10 per cent. in value compared with 1904. The aggregate exports from France, Germany, and the United States increased by 9 per cent. The increase of imports into France, Germany, and the United States was 8 per cent. compared with an increase of 1½ per cent. in the case of the United Kingdom.