§ 9. Mr. KINGasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that Mr. Chester Jones stated at a recent Home Office inquiry at Bradford that wool is being brought into Germany through Norway and Sweden, and that German yarn manufacturers are now paying very good dividends; whether the Department of blockade communicated these facts to Mr. Chester Jones; and whether action will be taken to make our blockade more effective?
§ The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for FOREIGN AFFAIRS (Lord Robert Cecil)The answer to the first part of the question is in the negative. Certain wools had been imported into Sweden from South America and sent to Germany to be combed and spun on commission and returned to Sweden, as Sweden was unable to obtain wool or yarn from other sources and did not possess the necessary machinery for combing the wool thus imported. The Swedish Government supervised the return to Sweden of the wool in the spun state. These facts had been communicated to Mr. Chester Jones and also the report that two spinning factories in Germany had declared a good dividend. Action is constantly being taken to make the blockade as effective as possible.