§ 1. Brigadier-General Sir HENRY CROFTasked the President of the Board of Trade what are the average exports of steel manufactures during the past two decades from this country, Germany, and the United States?
The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister)The answer contains a table of figures, and I will, therefore, with the permission of my hon. and gallant Friend, have it circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ The conditions of export trade during the War years were so abnormal that I propose to give my hon. and gallant Friend figures for the five-year periods ending 1908, 1913 and 1924, and for the year 1924.
§ Comparative figures for the countries specified, distinguishing steel, are not available. The following table shows the average annual value of the exports of iron and steel and manufactures thereof from the United Kingdom, the U.S.A., and Germany during the periods specified above:
§ £50,000,000 in 1923 to £155,000,000 in 1924; and commissions from £30,000,000 in 1923 to £40,000,000 in 1924:
§ (2) whether, in calculating the balance of trade, the Board of Trade takes any account of invisible imports as well as invisible, exports; and whether he can give any estimate of invisible imports for the years 1923 and 1924, respectively?
1989Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERReasons for estimating the net income arising abroad from various sources, at higher figures in 1924 than in 1923, were set out with some fullness in the article in the Board of Trade Journal of 29th January last, in which the figure's were first published, I am sending a copy of the article to my hon. Friend, All the figures given are estimated balances of credit items over debit items of the same class.