LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY,in rising to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs if he would obtain from 336 some of Her Majesty's Consuls in Italy Returns of the price of bread during the year preceding the increase of Import Duty on wheat in Italy, and during the present year, said: My Lords, Her Majesty's Consul at Leghorn reported some time ago that the duty on wheat in Italy had been raised from 30 fr. to 50 fr. a ton; that is equivalent to about 9s. a quarter, which is rather higher than the augmented duty in France. The same Consul also expressed most dismal forebodings as to the increase in the price of bread which he thought would ensue in Italy. Whether that is so or not can easily be proved if the noble Marquess will be so good as to obtain information from some of Her Majesty's Consuls in some of the principal towns in Italy as to the price of bread previously to the augmentation of duty, and later prices, as may be most convenient. I would ask my noble Friend to request the Consuls in particular at Turin, Genoa, Naples, and Leghorn to send him Reports. Those, I think, will be sufficient. If I can do so without appearing to belong to the Irredenta Party I would also ask for some Returns, if they can be obtained, from Trieste, as that is a great centre of the grain trade.
§ THE MARQUESS OF SALISBURYWe shall be very glad to furnish the noble Lord with all the information it is in our power to obtain. Instructions will be sent to some of the Consuls, as he suggests, on the subject; but I think, perhaps, the most convenient way for the noble Lord to obtain the information he desires is to move for a Return in the terms he thinks best, asking particulars, from the Consuls whose names he has mentioned.