§ Captain TERRELLasked the President of the Board of Trade the value of imports during 1922 of dairy produce, poultry, eggs, bacon, pork, hams, barley, vegetables, and fruit; and whether the per- 883W centages of these imported articles are getting larger every year?
§ Lieut.-Colonel BUCKLEYThe following statement shows the declared value of the imports into the United Kingdom during 1922 of the articles specified in the question, together with the corresponding values of the imports in the year 1913:
Information is not available regarding the percentage of the imports to the total consumption in this country of the articles in question. In comparing the values of the imports of 1922 with those of 1913 the higher level of prices in 1922 must be taken into account. The imports in 1922 of the articles specified represent a value approximately 70 per cent. greater than if those imports had been returned at the same average values as in 1913, so that the aggregate increase in the volume of these goods imported was about 3 per cent. The increase of the population of the United Kingdom during the same period was about 4 per cent.
Thousand £s ('000 omitted). 1922. 1913. Butter … 37,316 24,084 Cheese … 12,438 7,035 Poultry … 1,243 992 Eggs, in shell … 11,302 9,591 Bacon … 35,530 17,429 Hams … 8,585 3,068 Pork … 3,536 1,665 Barley … 6,069 8,077 Vegetables, raw … 12,040 5,492 Fruit, raw … 24,725 9,844 Total … 152,784 87,277