68. Mr. J. E. B. Hillasked the President of the Board of Trade what British-made agricultural machinery, veterinary supplies and other farm requisites have been exported to China in recent years; and whether, in his visit to Peking, he discussed the desirability of increasing this trade.
§ Mr. JayAnnual exports of British agricultural machinery to China have varied between £40,000 and £400,000 in recent years; and I found it encouraging to see in Peking that some half dozen leading manufacturers of agricultural machinery were represented at the British Industrial Exhibition. Veterinary and other farm requisites are not separately recorded in the export statistics.
In the talks I had with the Chinese authorities we agreed that an expansion in Sino-British trade would be to our mutual advantage, but we did not discuss the particular fields in which an expansion of our exports might be expected.