§ 34. Mr. Pagetasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will inform the British kid industry from where in the British Commonwealth it can obtain supplies of raw goatskins of a quality suitable for the production of glacé kid, to compensate for the continued reduction in the shipments from India.
§ Sir D. EcclesThe decline in imports from India has been made up by extra imports from other Commonwealth countries, especially East and West Africa.
§ Mr. PagetIs the President of the Board of Trade aware that the kidskins from East and West Africa, which are attacked by both fly and thorn, are totally unsuitable for the manufacture of glacé kid; that the only alternative source within the Commonwealth is 575 Aden, where the supplies are trivial; and that the effect of the preference, now that the Indian skins are going to Russia, is that the glacé kid manufacturer here is at a 10 per cent. disadvantage as against his European rival in the export trade?
§ Sir D. EcclesAs I understand it, there has been a slight change in fashion between glacé kid and suede, and if we add together the production figures of the two kinds of leather we find that production has increased.
§ Mr. PagetIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that he is quite wrong about that; that the suede trade and the glacé kid trade are quite different trades, and that it is the glacé kid trade that has been cut off? Is he further aware that his confusion is causing the country considerable losses?