I beg to ask the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that the British Consul-General at Hamburg, in his recent Report, states that it is not possible to furnish Returns of the trade between Ireland and Hamburg, as no special statistical Returns of the imports from or of the exports to Irish ports are drawn up there; that in the same Report Vice-Consul Renck, of Harburg, is able to state that 1,300 tons of kainit were exported from Harburg to Ireland in 1906; can he say what special sources of information were available to a Vice-Consul at a small port in the same consular district which were not available to the Consul General at the important port of Hamburg; and whether valuable information for Irish traders could be obtained if special efforts were made, in view of the fact that there is direct trade between Hamburg and at least one Irish port.

I will communicate with His Majesty's Consul-General at Hamburg on this matter.