§ 2. Mr. GEOFFREY PETOasked the President of the Beard of Trade whether he will state the value of the British trade with China: the amount of British capital now invested in China: and the number of British subjects now resident in China?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERThe answer contains a number of figures, and my hon. Friend will perhaps agree to my circulating it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ I.
§ The value of the trade of Great Britain and Northern Ireland with China and Hong Kong during the last three years has been as follows:
| Imports consigned therefrom: | China. | Hong-Kong. | ||
| £ | £ | |||
| 1924 | … | … | 13,915,282 | 765,341 |
| 1925 | … | … | 13,447,620 | 718,113 |
| 1926 | … | … | 11,554,135 | 667,562 |
| Exports consigned thereto: | ||||
| (a) United Kingdom Goods— | ||||
| 1924 | … | … | 20,346,613 | 8,554,434 |
| 1925 | … | … | 14,633,399 | 5,109,808 |
| 1926 | … | … | 16,426,858 | 3,181,586 |
| (ii) Imported Goods— | ||||
| 1924 | … | … | 190,917 | 114,437 |
| 1925 | … | … | 175,424 | 92,853 |
| 1926 | … | … | 242,166 | 67,077 |
§ II.
§ I have no official information as to the amount of British capital invested in China, but from private estimates that have been made it would appear that it may amount to as much as £130,000,000, of which, perhaps, one-third is in the form of Chinese Government loans.
§ III.
§ According to statistics published by the Chinese Maritime Customs, the number of British nationals resident in China in 1925 was 15,247.