§ Mr. LYLEasked the President of the Board of Trade if, taking into consideration wages and hours worked, he can state how the cost of production in France, Germany, and Belgium compares 261W with the cost of production in this country at the present time; and whether he can in each case give its relation to pre-War cost of production?
§ Sir W. MITCHELL-THOMSONIt is not possible to make any general comparison between costs of production in the different countries named, and their changes since the outbreak of War, without a series of special investigations. Conditions are, moreover, changing somewhat rapidly in various industries. So far as selling prices may be taken as indicative of costs of production, some comparisons have been made in the Board of Trade Journal, of which I am sending a copy to my hon. Friend. I am endeavouring to obtain corresponding comparisons for a later period than is covered in the article in question.