§ 15. Mr. WHEATLEYasked the President of the Board of Trade what percentage off the total trade of Great Britain is with countries outside the British Isles; and what portion of this is with Canada?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. William Graham)As the answer is long, I will, with my right hon. Friend's permission circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the answer:
§ The total of the values exchanged in all trading transactions in this country is not recorded, and I know of no satisfactory method of forming a reliable estimate of its amount. An effort has, however, been made to frame an estimate, based on the results of the Census of Production of 1924, of the aggregate value of the goods which passed out of the hands of producers or importers, on their way to consumers, in that year, and to compare this total with the exports of the year. The estimate relates, not to Great Britain, but to the United Kingdom, covering also Northern Ireland, for which a separate comparable estimate is not available. Of the aggregate of the goods thus passing to consumers at home and sent out of the country, the proportion despatched beyond the British Isles is calculated to have been between 21 and 22 per cent. of which those despatched to Canada formed about one part in twenty-five. In more recent periods the proportion of exports to Canada has been more nearly one in twenty, but no estimate of the total of the goods consumed at home, comparable with that framed for 1924, can be made until a further Census of Production is taken.