EARL OF RONALDSHAY (Middlesex, Hornsey)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Trade whether the trade of Germany for the first quarter of 1908 shows an increase or a decrease over the trade of that country for the same period of 1907, and to what extent; and whether the trade of Great Britain for the first quarter of 1908 shows an increase or a decrease over her trade for the same period of 1907, and to what extent.
§ MR. CHURCHILLThe system under which the quarterly statistics of German trade are compiled renders it impossible to make an exact comparison of the nature indicated by the noble Lord. Our own statistics of imports and exports are based on the values ruling at the time as declared by importers and exporters, whereas the only statistics available of the foreign trade of Germany during the first quarter of the year 1908 are based for the most part on the official average values of the various commodities ruling in 1907. Thus the German imports for home consumption in the quarter compiled on the basis above indicated showed an increase of about £1,600,000, and the German exports of domestic produce an increase of £900,000, while our own imports for home consumption showed a decrease of £4,100,000 and our exports of domestic produce a decrease of £2,600,000. If, however, the factor of the fall in prices which has occurred in respect of many important commodities could be allowed for in the German Returns it is believed that they, like our own, would show decreases for both imports and exports.