§ MR. BELLAIRS (Lynn Regis)To ask the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the monthly Board of Trade Returns in the exports of new ships give displacement tons for war ships and gross tonnage for merchant ships, and these are added together and the total called gross tonnage; and whether the Board can see their way to giving only the total gross tonnage of merchant ships, leaving the displacement tonnage of warships separate.
(Answered by Mr. Churchill.) The Monthly Trade and Navigation Accounts give the gross tonnage for all kinds of new ships exported, whether war or merchant vessels. It has not been the practice hitherto to insert the word "gross" in respect of the tonnage of war ships, but this will be done in future.