§ 10. Mr. COCKSasked the President of the Board of Trade how many permits were issued in 1932 for the export of munitions; and the quantity and nature of war material exported to China and Japan during the 12 months?
§ 9. Mr. HICKSasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he can state, for each month since February, 1932, by categories, the declared value of exports of arms, munitions, and naval and military stores, not including sporting arms and munitions, exported from the United Kingdom to Japan and China, and similarly the declared value of re-exports?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. Runciman)410 licences for the exportation of war material were
| Arms, ammunition and military and naval stores. | Unit of Quantity. | Exports of United Kingdom manufacture consigned during the year 1932 to | |
| China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and leased territories). | Japan (including Formosa and Japanese leased territories in China). | ||
| Ammunition: | |||
| Shot and shell | No. | 2,000 | — |
| Cwt. | l71 | — | |
| Metal cartridge cases, other than small arms ammunition—empty | No. | — | 19,000 |
| Cwt. | — | 115 | |
| Small arms ammunition—military: | |||
| Loaded cartridges | No. | 7,735,000 | 5,361,450 |
| Cwt. | 3,532 | 2,703 | |
| Percussion caps | Thousand | — | 180 |
| Cwt | — | 1 | |
| Fuses and blasting accessories | Cwt. | 101 | 138 |
| Propellant powders | Cwt. | 196 | — |
| High explosives | Cwt. | 2,788 | 4,909 |
| Other explosives and ammunition (a) | £ | 1,463 | 40,239 |
| Arms: | |||
| Guns, howitzers, mortars and parts thereof | No. | — | 10 |
| Cwt. | — | 256 | |
| Automatic machine and quick firing guns and parts thereof | No. | 61 | 740 |
| Cwt. | 104 | 644 | |
| Gun mountings and carriages and parts thereof | No. | — | 30 |
| Cwt. | — | 25 | |
| Small arms: | |||
| Military rifles and carbines | No. | 202 | — |
| Cwt. | 17 | — | |
| Miniature and cadet rifles and carbines | No. | 20 | — |
| Cwt. | — | — |
§ issued during 1932, of which 31 related to material destined for China and 41 for Japan. I will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a table which shows the quantity of the various descriptions of arms, ammunition and military and naval stores (except sporting arms and ammunition) exported from the United Kingdom and registered during the year 1932 as consigned to China and Japan respectively. As regards the value of such goods exported in each month since February, 1932, I am having a statement prepared which I will send to the hon. Member for East Woolwich (Mr. Hicks) as soon as possible.
Viscountess ASTORDoes not the right hon. Gentleman think it would be a great step on the way to peace if these munitions could be taken out of private hands and put under Government control?
§ Mr. DEPUTY-SPEAKER (Sir Dennis Herbert)That does not arise out of this question.
§ Following is the table:
785| Arms, ammunition and military and naval stores. | Unit of Quantity. | Exports of United Kingdom manufacture consigned during the year 1932 to | |
| China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and leased territories). | Japan (including Formosa and Japanese leased territories in China). | ||
| Arms—continued. | |||
| Small arms—continued. | |||
| Revolvers and pistols | No. | 580 | — |
| Cwt. | 11 | — | |
| Parts of small arms | Cwt. | — | 1 |
| Swords, cutlasses, bayonets and arms of other sorts not firearms | No. | 1 | — |
| Cwt. | — | — | |
| Military, naval and ordnance stores and appliances, not elsewhere specified (a) | £ | 7,978 | 11,160 |
| (a) Recorded by value only. |
§ Note.—The above figures are provisional.