§ Mr. Caryasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the urgent necessity of removing some of the obstacles which stand in the way of the development of the export trade, he will consider the advisability of consulting the Dominion Governments as to whether the time has come for placing the bargaining power of the Empire on a more unified basis?
§ Mr. StanleyIt is the constant endeavour of His Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom to remove obstacles to the development of the export trade, and an example of valuable co-operation between members of the British Commonwealth for this object in trade negotiations with other countries is furnished by the recent concurrent negotiations with the United States on behalf of this country and of Canada respectively, with which certain other Dominions and India were also concerned. While the scope for any form of joint bargaining is necessarily circumscribed for a number of reasons, the possibilities of cooperation in future cases on the lines of the example I have mentioned will certainly be borne in mind.