§ 51. Sir WILLIAM WAYLAND (for Mr. HERBERT WILLIAMS)asked the President of the Board of Trade whether his attention has been drawn to the imports of chemicals which, according to the Board of Trade Journal for 3rd May, are 46.9 per cent. higher in the first quarter of this year than in the corresponding quarter of 1933; whether he will ascertain if the requirements of chemicals in this country can be met from home sources; and whether, if the home 725 industry is capable of supplying all our requirements, he will take steps to enable it to do so?
§ Dr. BURGINI am aware of the figures to which my hon. Friend refers. Some of our imports consist of chemicals not obtainable in this country. Any question of increasing a duty leviable under the Import Duties Act is a matter, in the first instance, for the Import Duties Advisory Comimittee.
§ Sir W. WAYLANDIs not the Minister aware that there are very few chemicals imported which this country cannot manufacture, also that the wages in the chemical trade in European countries are very much lower than in this country?
§ Dr. BURGINI should like to think that chemicals could all be made here, but I have taken the trouble to look up the four particular families of chemicals which constitute the greater part of the increase to which the question relates and I am satisfied that we are, and have been for many years past, dependent on foreign supplies in those cases.