§ MR. BOLAND (Kerry, S.)To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state the actual amount and the proportion contributed by Ireland to each of the following classes of exports, of which the total export for 1905 from the United Kingdom is stated to be, respectively, linen yarn, £927,617; linen manufactures (piece goods, plain, unbleached, or bleached), £4,225,394; piece goods, checked, printed, or dyed, and damask and diaper, £335,635; piece goods, sailcloth, £280,840; linen thread for sewing, £262,396; other linen manufactures, unremunerated, £1,236,951; and whether he will set out the figures in parallel columns.
(Answered by Mr. Lloyd-George.) The official Returns of exports do not show what proportion of the exports of the articles referred to originated in Ireland. The value of the exports shipped from Irish ports direct to places abroad was as follows: linen yarn, £35,764; linen piece goods plain, bleached or unbleached, £911; linen thread for sewing, £273; 1116 other linen manufactures unenumerated, £7,819. No doubt a very much larger proportion of the total exports of these articles was of Irish origin, though shipped abroad from ports in great Britain.