§ Major ARCHER-SHEEasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the fact, as disclosed by him, that the proportion of imports from the United Kingdom, in the year 1910, into parts of the British Empire, other than the self-governing Dominions and India, only amounted to 26.4 per cent. of their total imports, and that the United Kingdom only received 32.8 per cent. of the exports of these Colonies and Dependencies, he will appoint a Special Committee to inquire into the means by which the Mother-country may obtain a larger share of the trade, in view of the heavy burdens incurred in the administration, defence, and diplomatic representation of these parts of the Empire?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. J. M. Robertson)My right hon. Friend sees no occasion for the appointment of a Committee. The hon. Member has left out of account the figures which my right hon. Friend was careful to give him showing how large a proportion of the trade of these Colonies is inter-Imperial. Thus, in addition to the 26.4 per cent. of the imports into the parts of the Empire referred to in the question which were derived from the United Kingdom, a further 38.5 per cent. (making 64.9 per cent. in all) were derived from other parts of the Empire. Moreover, the apparent imports from foreign countries are enormously swollen owing to the fact that several of the Colonies included are large distributors of goods. No less than half of the thirty-two million pounds' worth of foreign imports into the parts of the Empire referred to consist of imports into the Straits Settlements mainly for distribution in the Far East, and a large proportion of the foreign imports into such Colonies as Aden, Malta, and Ceylon are, no doubt, redistributed in a similar way. The exports are mainly sent, if not to the United Kingdom, at least to some part of the Empire.