§ Sir R. Glynasked the Minister of Shipping whether he will give a table showing the increased tonnage made available for British purposes as the result of ships under foreign flags being placed at our disposal?
§ Mr. CrossOn 31st October last the total tonnage of foreign vessels of 500 gross tons and over added to United Kingdom merchant fleet by capture, by requisition and purchase was about 1¼ million gross tons. The corresponding total of Allied and neutral vessels time chartered to us was approximately 4,000,000 gross tons. It should not be inferred that all the tonnage now at our disposal represents an addition to our importing capacity, as much foreign tonnage traded to our ports prior to the outbreak of war.