§ Captain Pluggeasked the First Lord of the Admiralty whether, in view of the increasing shortage of skilled labour, he will consider taking early steps to revise the system under which only a fifth of the total number of men employed at the several dockyards at home are accorded the security of establishment; and whether he will substitute a system under which all apprentices entering the yard and other hired men taken on at an early 364W exports are benefited by the preferences given at Ottawa in the markets of Great Britain and of the Dominions respectively?
§ Mr. Ormsby-GoreSo far as the United Kingdom is concerned, the only preferences granted at Ottawa specifically to the Colonial Empire were those on grape-fruit (during certain months) and bananas. The Colonial Empire also benefits from some of the preferences then granted to the Dominions. So far as the Dominions are concerned, many preferences were granted to the Colonial Empire which it would be impossible to summarize within the limits of a Parliamentary reply. The hon. Member will find them set out in the agreements, which were printed in 1932 as Command Paper No. 4174.