§ 1. Viscount SANDONasked the President of the Board of Trade whether the raw materials quoted in the letter of protest from the British High Commissioner at Ottawa to the Canadian Government as involving over 50 per cent. of the cost of certain finished articles on import into Canada from Britain, and thereby not being eligible for the Empire preference, could be procured 684 from within the Empire and thereby enable the preference to operate, instead of coming from the United States?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister)At present it would be difficult, if not impossible, for manufacturers to obtain adequate supplies of materials from Empire sources for the manufacture for the Canadian market of the goods to which my noble Friend refers. I may add that the Canadian Government are now carrying on investigations in this country as to the difficulties which manufacturers and exporters experience in complying with the new Canadian conditions.
§ Viscount SANDONDoes my right hon. Friend think it really impossible to get these raw materials within the British Empire?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERYes, I said so.