§ 18. Lieut.-Commander KENWORTHYasked the Secretary to the Overseas Trade Department if he has any official explanation for the falling off of the value of the imports of merchandise from the United Kingdom to Iraq from £9,200,000 in 1920 to £3,273,000 in the year ending 31st March, 1927, and of the exports from Iraq to the United Kingdom of from £1,200,000 in 1920 to £1,007,000 in the year ending 31st March, 1927; and, if so, if he can state the broad reasons for this decline in trade?
§ Mr. DOUGLAS HACKING (Secretary, Overseas Trade Department)I would remind the hon. and gallant Member that the comparison with the figures for 1920 is somewhat misleading on account of the price boom in that year. As regards subsequent years it will be found that, if allowance is made for price changes, the volume of trade between the United Kingdom and Iraq has been well maintained. The year 1926 was a period of interrupted trade but there has since been a substantial recovery. The demand for imported goods in Iraq has also no doubt been affected by the considerable and progressive reduction in the numbers of the British garrison in Iraq consequent upon the adoption in 1921 of the policy of substituting Royal Air Force units for Land Forces.