§ Mr. PRINGLEasked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (starred QuestionNo. 6) whether he can state the total value in Belgium of the foodstuffs imported into that country by the Neutral Relief Commission; and the amount of the contributions made to the Commission by the United States, by other neutrals, by the British Empire, and by the other allied Governments, respectively; and (un-starred Questions 1 and 2)—whether he can state, in tons, the monthly importation of lard into Belgium and Northern France by the Neutral Relief Committee, and whether he can state, in tons, the monthly importation of foodstuffs into Belgium and Northern France by the Neutral Relief Commission?
§ Lord R. CECILI will, if the hon. Member has no objection, give only the completed figures up to 31st October, 1915, representing the first year of the Commission's work. During that period the Commission estimates that it imported £12,674,848 0s. 1d. of foodstuffs into Belgium.
Private contributions were as follows:— In kind.
£ s. d. British Empire 397,317 11 11 United States 1,325,490 16 0 Sundry Sources 56,439 10 6 In money. British Empire 1,499,534 11 5 United States 71,288 15 7 General (including subscriptions from the Belgian Relief Fund, Italy, Spain, Holland, and the Argentine 119,720 8 10 The contributions from the Belgian Government, which from April, 1915, inclusive, may be roughly taken as being drawn from loans from the Allied Governments without interest, the British part in these contributions being about £500,000 a month, were £10,860,300 15s. 8d.
54WAccounts up to date could, of course, be obtained from the Commission, but these figures are a fair index of the system which has remained practically unchanged up to date.