§ 48. Colonel ROPNERasked the Secretary of State for the Colonies what was the quantity of foreign and British coal, respectively, purchased by the principal Colonies during 1934 and 1930; and what steps have been taken during the past year with a view to increasing the proportion of British coal supplies to such Colonies?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERI will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT figures of the imports of coal in 1930 and 1934 into those territories in the Colonial Empire for which 1934 figures are available and figures for 1930 and 1933 for the whole of the Colonial Empire. No representations have reached me on the subject of this trade in the last year, and no special action has been taken. It is, of course, the practice of those Colonies which charge any duty on imports of coal and are free to grant Imperial preference, to charge no duty or a lower duty on British coal, but the hon. and gallant Member will appreciate that there are a number of Colonial Dependencies, particularly in the Far East, where it is not economically practicable to import coal from the United Kingdom, and that there is a substantial local production of coal in certain Dependencies, notably Nigeria and Malaya.
§ Following are the figures:
§ (a)Comparison between 1930 and 1933, for all Dependencies, and
§ (b)Comparison between 1930 and 1934 for the 14 Dependencies for which figures for 1934 are available. These 14 Dependencies are:
1302| Kenya and Uganda (counted as one). | Malta. |
| Ceylon. | |
| Nyasaland. | Hong Kong. |
| Tanganyika. | Malaya. |
| Zanzibar. | Bahamas. |
| Gold Coast. | St. Vincent. |
| Sierra Leone. | British Guiana. |
| Cyprus. |
| (A) | ||||
| Year. | Imports in tons from | |||
| United Kingdom. | Other British Countries. | Foreign Countries. | ||
| 1930 | … | 350,000 | 1,098,000 | 1,303,000 |
| 1933 | … | 430,000 | 1,025,000 | 1,180,000 |
| (B) | ||||
| 1930 | … | 267,000 | 853,000 | 1,129,000 |
| 1934 | … | 117,000 | 561,000 | 802,000 |