§ Captain BOWYER asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that trade boards are engaged in fixing the wages in the brush material trade; whether this trade is suffering seriously from the import of brush materials from Continental countries, where scales of wages are much lower than those which are being fixed by British trade boards; whether it has been brought to his notice that, following upon the lower wages in competing countries in this trade, one British merchant is having the material dressed in Belgium and brought here to compete against British labour; and whether the Government has yet decided upon the trade policy which it proposes to adopt in order to safeguard this and many other British industries menaced by Continental competition in the same way?
§ Sir R. HORNE: I have no information which suggests that the brush-making industry is at the present time adversely affected by foreign competition, and no representations have been made to me as to the fact stated in the third part of the question. With regard to the suggested effect of Continental competition upon this and other industries which are not key industries, the situation is not sufficiently defined to justify the adoption of any specific policy.