§ 3. Sir WILLIAM DAVISONasked the President of the Board of Trade what was the tonnage of iron and steel imported into this country during last year; and the tonnage of iron and steel exported from this country during the same period?
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMAs stated in the "Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom" for December last, the total quantity of 1927 goods classed as "Iron and Steel and Manufactures thereof" imported into the United Kingdom during the year 1930 was 2,908,347 tons, while the quantity exported was 3,170,249 tons, of which 12,324 tons consisted of imported merchandise.
§ Sir W. DAVISONDo not the Government intend to do anything, in view of the large number of men who are out of employment in our steel industry, to prevent this £2,000,000 of British money from going abroad to give employment in Belgium and elsewhere?
§ Mr. GRAHAMIt is quite impossible to deal with that matter in reply to a supplementary question, but a very large quantity of these imports consists of raw materials for other industries.
§ Mr. HANNONCan the right hon. Gentleman say whether, during the later months of last year and the earlier months of this year, we were importing more steel and iron goods than we exported?
§ Mr. GRAHAMSpeaking from memory, I think there was a period when that was true, but, taking the year 1930 as a whole, the exports exceeded the imports, and, of course, the value was very much greater. The exports were worth £51,500,000, as against a value of about £23,000,000 of imports.