§ Major GLYNasked the President of the Board of Trade what has been the average monthly export of steel plates manufactured in the United Kingdom to Continental countries since 1st January of this year; whether the average monthly output of steel plates in the United Kingdom exceeds the average monthly output before the War or during the period of the War when steel supplies were supervised by Admiralty officials; and whether lie has yet obtained any information to justify the report that, during April and May of this year, work in British shipyards was seriously delayed on account of the inability of the. steel manufacturers to supply the necessary steel plates?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANThe average monthly exports to European countries of ship, bridge, boiler and other plates and sheets not under ⅛in. thick manufactured in the United Kingdom from January to Juno this year is 13,333 tons. The average monthly output in the United Kingdom this year is 95,300 tons; in 1907 it was 102,000 tons; in 1915–18 it was 106.000 tons. I am unable to find that any representations have been made to the Government by the shipbuilding trade regarding a shortage of steel plates.