On Monday last the vote for the Department of Over-
seas Trade was taken. Hopes, and little else, were expressed by the representatives of the Government for our export trade to India and South America. The British manufacturer was, as usual, made a whipping boy tid'accused' Of- lack of 'Ortterprist.- The -Russian' trade figures, greatly to our disadvantage in spite of the Govern- ment's Export Credits, were discussed. Sir John Simon brought up the painful question of girls. sold into service in Hong Kong, a matter on which he and Lady Simon have done valuable and humane work. There is an un- comfortable likeness to slavery in the Chinese custom and many of the moral results must be as bad as those of slavery. Dr. Drummond Shiels for the Colonial Office defended the Hong Kong Government and held out hope that an ancient and ingrained custom was being steadily annihilated by legislation and improved public opinion on the spot. On Tuesday the House concluded the Committee stage of the Franchise Bill, and passed on Wednesday to India. An impotent sympathy with Lancashire dominated the debate on the political and economic troubles. The Bombay industrialists finance Congress and Japan supplies cotton goods throughout the East, including what India needs to import. * *
Previous page
