§ 20. Mr. Burdenasked the President of the Board of Trade the total quantity in yards, and the value and countries of origin, of printed cotton cloth imported into the United Kingdom between 1st January and 30th September, 1952.
§ Mr. MackesonTotal imports into the United Kingdom of printed cotton cloth recorded during January-September, 1952, were 2,658,000 square yards valued at £408,000. As these imports were consigned from a large number of countries I will, with permission, circulate the details in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Mr. BurdenWill my hon. Friend ensure that where these materials can be manufactured equally well in this country licences are not issued? Is he aware that in the shops at present there are printed cottons from other European countries, which could quite well be manufactured in Lancashire?
§ Mr. MackesonMy hon. Friend is asking me to use quotas for protection rather than for balance of payments reasons, which I cannot promise to do.
§ Following are the details:
| TOTAL IMPORTS INTO THE UNITED KINGDOM DURING JANUARY-SEPTEMBER, 1952 | ||
| Woven piece goods of cotton—printed | ||
| Country of consignment* | Square yards | £ |
| Channel Islands | 174 | 87 |
| Gibraltar | 240 | 66 |
| Gold Coast | 2,081 | 387 |
| Nigeria | 723 | 93 |
| Union of South Africa | 10,117 | 1,890 |
| Southern Rhodesia | 420 | 53 |
| India | 6,770 | 1,355 |
| Singapore | 9,059 | 1,778 |
| Federation of Malaya | 23,580 | 3,654 |
| Hong Kong | 1,841 | 306 |
| Australia | 25,815 | 3,936 |
| New Zealand | 319 | 124 |
| Canada | 2,513 | 713 |
| Bermuda | 18 | 2 |
| Bahamas | 40 | 6 |
| Jamaica | 53 | 35 |
| Irish Republic | 15,077 | 2,776 |
| Sweden | 73,601 | 7,734 |
| Norway | 298 | 78 |
| Denmark | 31,677 | 6,395 |
| Poland | 35,639 | 4,215 |
| Western Germany | 569,159 | 102,805 |
| Netherlands | 51,937 | 15,170 |
| Belgium | 9,994 | 1,766 |
| France | 480,615 | 86,276 |
| Switzerland | 60,598 | 18,093 |
| Spain | 301,156 | 31,049 |
| Italy | 303,129 | 44,133 |
| Austria | 11,241 | 1,616 |
| Czechoslovakia | 503,089 | 41,762 |
| Greece | 29,430 | 3,766 |
| Belgian Congo | 24 | 3 |
| Lebanon | 4,860 | 1,217 |
| Egypt | 7,181 | 2,008 |
| Iran | 146 | 43 |
| United States of America | 80,825 | 21,539 |
| Peru | 4,877 | 576 |
| TOTAL | 2,658,316 | 407,505 |
| *The country of consignment is not necessarily the country of manufacture. |