§ 23. Mr. CHORLTONasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will give to the House the comparative figures of value of total imports into all the Colonies of Japanese and British goods for the nine months ended September, 1933, and for a similar period of 1928, respectively?
§ The SECRETARY of STATE for the COLONIES (Sir Philip Cunliffe-Lister)The information requested is not available as the majority of the Colonies only publish detailed trade returns annually.
§ Mr. CHORLTONCannot my right hon. Friend take steps to obtain this information, which is so important and necessary, in order to see where we stand against this competition?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERNo, I do not think that I can do that. I think that we all realise the tremendous importance of getting a satisfactory settlement of Japanese competition, but I do not think that it would be practicable in a number of Colonies with a very small Customs service to get the sort of detailed monthly returns such as are supplied by the Customs and Excise here.