asked the First Lord of the Admiralty if he will state the amount of ocean-going tonnage owned respectively on 1st July, 1914, and 1st January, 1918, by France, Italy, the United States, Japan, Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Norway?

Specific information as to ocean-going tonnage at 1st July, 1914, is not available for each of the countries mentioned. It is impossible to state the position at January, 1918.

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the White Paper recently published states that the net increase is 1,000,000 tons?

My hon. Friend overstates the net gain. The summary on page 3 of the White Paper on Merchant Tonnage and the Submarine shows the position at the end of 1917 for foreign merchant ships as follows: Losses, 4,748,080 tons; gains, new construction, 3,574,720; enemy tonnage captured, 1,809,000; total gains, 5,383,720 tons. That is a net gain of 635,640 tons and not 1,000,000.