§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTI beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that the Trade and Navigation Returns show that up to the end of October in the present year £93,395 worth of foreign cutlery was imported, or nearly double that in the same period of 1904, and £31,000 more than in 1905; and if, having regard to the effect of such competition upon the working cutlers of Old Sheffield, he can state whence those imports of foreign cutlery have come, and if they bore any proportion of that taxation which is levied upon Home industry; and if he can give any reason for the doubling of the amount of the foreign competition since the accession to office of the present Government.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. LLOYD-GEORGE, Carnarvon Boroughs)I am aware of the facts stated. While our imports of cutlery in the first ten months of this year have amounted to £93,000 in value or £31,000 more than in the same period in 1905, our exports of cutlery in the first ten months of this year have amounted to £585,000 or £39,000 more than in the same period in 1905. The increase in imports has been mainly from Germany and the United States, in which countries industry is certainly not free from taxation. I presume that the general expansion in trade accounts for the in-crease both in imports and exports.
§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTAre these imports for foreign countries in proportion to the taxation levied on home industries?
§ MR. CHIOZZA MONEY (Paddington, N.)Is it not the fact that the increase in the prosperity of any country is usually marked by an increase in the imports of manufacted articles?
§ SIR HOWARD VINCENTI would refer the hon. Member to the experience of the United States.