§ 30. Sir F. WISEasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department the imports of coal into France from Britain, Germany, and the United States from 1st January to as convenient a date as possible for the years 1914 and 1927, respectively?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of TRADE (Sir Burton Chadwick)With my hon. Friend's permission, a table will be circulated in the OFFICIAL REPORT giving the information he asks for.
§ Following is the table:
| Country whence Imported. | January to April. | |
| 1914. | 1927 | |
| Tons. | Tons. | |
| Great Britain | 4,141,483 | 3,081,205 |
| Germany | 1,362,481 | †2,909,715 |
| United States of America | * | 451,091 |
| *Not recorded: the total imports from the United States of America during 1914 only amounted to 29,962 tons. | ||
| †Includes deliveries from Germany on account of Reparations amounting to 2,014,759 tons. |
§ In comparing these figures, the following differences in the scope of the French statistics should be borne in mind:
§ (1) Alsace Lorraine is included in the France of 1927 but not in that of 1914, and the Saar Territory is now treated for the purposes of the trade records as part of France. Thus, the French returns of imports now include imports into Alsace-Lorraine from Germany, and exclude imports from the Saar Basin.
§ (2) Foreign coal used in French ports for bunkering purposes on French ships in the foreign trade was excluded from the record of imports in 1914, but is now 400 included in that record. The total amount of these bunkers in January-April, 1914, was 399,718 tons.