§ 61. Commander BELLAIRSasked the President of the Board of Trade whether the heavy stocks of enamelled hollowware sent into Great Britain before the imposition of the duty on 13th June last have now been liquidated; and whether he has any information as to the expansion of our home and overseas trade in the second half of 1928 as compared with the first half?
§ Mr. H. WILLIAMSI regret that I have no information as to stocks of imported hollow-ware. As regards the second part of the question, the returns 1297 of output which are received from the Wrought Hollow-ware Trade Employers' Association cover about two-thirds of the production of wrought enamelled hollowware. These returns show that the output in the third quarter of 1928 was at a rate nearly 30 per cent. in excess of the average of the first two quarters of that year. I have no information in regard to the remaining concerns which do not furnish returns of output. The tonnage of wrought enamelled hollow-ware exported in the second half of 1928 was 40 per cent. greater than that exported in the first half of that year.