40. Mr. R. S. YOUNGasked the President of the Board of Trade if he can give figures of trade with the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics and this country for the first three months of 1929 and the first three months of 1930, or any other comparable period?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMAs my hon. Friend will find recorded in the Monthly Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom for April, the total declared value of merchandise imported into the United Kingdom and registered as consigned from the Soviet Union (Russia) during the first three months of 1929 amounted to £3,166,000, as compared with £4,812,000 during the corresponding period of 1930. The total value of exports (including re-exports) from the United Kingdom registered as consigned to the Soviet Union during the former period amounted to £1,168,000, and during the latter period to £1,954,000.
§ Sir B. PETOCan the right hon. Gentleman give any explanation of why the Soviet Government buy from us only about a quarter of what we buy from them, and in those circumstances, what necessity there is for granting them special credit terms?
§ Mr. GRAHAMIt is obviously impossible for me, in a reply to a supplementary question, to explain why one country does not do more trade with another.