§ MR. A. L. STANLEY (Cheshire, Eddisbury)To ask the Secretary of State for War whether the Return, made by his Department, of contracts given abroad for the last financial year is com- 906 parable with that made in previous years, or whether the latest Return contains items which are for the first time included in that Return, though such articles have in the past actually been ordered from abroad; whether copper and condensed milk have, as a matter of fact, been obtained from abroad for some years past, though these articles appear for the first time in the Return made last year; and, if those articles have been so obtained, whether he can give any information showing to what extent they have been so obtained.
(Answered by Mr. Secretary Haldane.) As stated in the footnote, the Return was amplified to cover all foreign imported goods classed as manufactures in the Board of Trade monthly accounts of trade and navigation in the United Kingdom. Among the items consequently included for the first time are copper ingots and condensed milk. The value of the latter purchased from abroad in earlier years cannot be given without considerable investigation. The purchases of copper for the five years ending 31st March, 1907, amount to over £550,000 in value.