88. Mr. SPENCERasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware 392 that the retail chemists of Nottingham shire are experiencing a shortage of medicine bottles; whether such shortage is due to his Department insisting upon bottle-makers exporting 75 per cent. of their output; and, if so, what steps, if any, he pro poses to take to secure a sufficient supply for home use?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANI am aware that there is a shortage of medicine bottles, which is due to a large extent to shortage of coal and labour for their manufacture. British makers are not required to export any portion of their output, and the actual exports at the present time are very small. Importation is being allowed at the rate of 50 per cent. of the imports of 1913.