§ Mr. PETOasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that under the new Japanese tariff, which came into operation in July last year, the exports of cotton and woollen goods from this country to Japan during the months of January and February, 1912, show a decrease of 2,366,000 yen as compared with January and February, 1911, while the export of cotton goods from Japan during the same months show an increase this year of 1,427,000 yen over 1911; and whether he proposes to take any steps, by 1995W export bounty or otherwise, to neutralise the bad effect on British trade of the new Japanese tariff and Anglo-Japanese Commercial Treaty?
Mr. ROBERTSONI am aware that the imports of cottons and woollens into Japan have fallen off since the new tariff came into force. The comparison with a year ago does not, however, convey the real facts of the situation as our exports of these goods to Japan were considerably swollen in the early months of 1911 by the efforts made to get the goods in under the old tariff. As compared with the first two months of 1910, the imports from the United Kingdom of cottons and woollens so far as shown have fallen off this year by 730,000 yen only, and the exports of such goods from Japan have increased by only 145,000 yen. Moreover, whilst cotton and woollen imports from the United Kingdom into Japan have declined, imports of other goods have increased to a more than corresponding extent. The total imports from the United Kingdom were greater in the first two months of this year by three and a half million yens than last year and by five and a half million yens than in the first two months of 1910. These results do not suggest that the new Japanese tariff as modified by the Anglo-Japanese Treaty has had an injurious effect on British trade as a whole.