Mr. ALLENasked the President of the Board of Trade the quantity and value of Japanese cotton goods imported into Great Britain during the last 12 months; and whether he will supply a table showing the relative wages paid to different categories of British and Japanese cotton operatives?
1209W
§ Mr. W. GRAHAMAs regards the first part of the question, I regret that it has not been possible to obtain in time the necessary figures, but I will send them to the hon. Member in the course of a day or two. As regards the second part of the question, I regret that the official information at present available is not sufficient for any satisfactory comparison of the wages in the cotton industry in Japan and in that of this country, and proposals for an inquiry into the wages and other conditions in the textile industries in Japan and other principal industrial countries are under the consideration of the International Labour Office at the present time.