HC Deb 09 May 1939 vol 347 c262
6. Mr. Chorlton

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will give the figures for cotton textile exports for the first quarter of the year as compared with a similar period for 1938?

Mr. Stanley

My hon. Friend will find the desired information on pages 165 to 183 of the March issue of the "Accounts relating to Trade and Navigation of the United Kingdom."

7. Sir Nicholas Grattan-Doyle

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will discuss with the cotton trade representatives a Government scheme for employing unemployed cotton operatives to make coarse-count cotton goods for sale in the export markets at whatever price they will fetch, so that the Government may use the overseas credits thus created for purchasing materials for munitions, and benefit trade and employment by the export of grades of cotton goods hitherto produced and exported by foreign firms to the exclusion of similar British goods?

Mr. Stanley

No, Sir. The Government do not consider that a proposal of this kind could provide a satisfactory solution of the problems of the export trade in cotton goods.