§ MR. AUSTEN CHAMBERLAIN (Worcestershire, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been called to the incompleteness of the figures relating to exported manufactures in the Returns of Imperial trade given in the Statistical Abstract; why leather goods are represented in that Return as the solitary manufactured export of the British Empire; and whether he will take steps to complete the statement in future issues by the inclusion of figures relating to other manufactured commodities.
§ MR. LLOYD-GEORGEThe table in the British Empire Abstract to 1154 which the right hon. Member alludes was originally intended to show the trade in certain staple foodstuffs and raw materials between the British Empire as a whole and foreign countries. The classification introduced in the most recent issue of the abstract under the three headings, food, raw materials, and manufactured articles, has had the unintended effect of giving a solitary position to leather in this table which, I admit, now gives a misleading impression. I shall be very glad to discuss with the right hon. Gentleman how far it is practicable to include particulars with regard to a few of the more important groups of manufactured articles, having due regard to the great labour involved in compiling the details and the want of uniformity in the Colonial trade accounts.