§ Sir C. Rawsonasked the President of the Board of Trade why our textile trade with 433W our French allies is restricted to less than one-third of last year's trade, causing loss of re-export trade, loss to British dyeing and printing, and unnecessary friction between French traders and our own?
§ Mr. StanleyAs my hon. Friend will be aware, it has been found necessary to impose drastic restrictions upon imports in order to conserve our resources of foreign exchange for the purchase of essential supplies. For this reason, the importation of most textile manufactures from foreign countries is completely prohibited; but licences are being issued for the importation of textile manufactures from France to cover a proportion of last year's trade. Special provision has also been made for the re-export trade. The position was explained in an announcement in the Press last week, a copy of which I am sending to my hon. Friend.