asked the Secretary of State for Trade what information he has about the average retail price of imported shirts from both Hong Kong and Portugal during 1974; and whether these prices are lower than the production costs of British shirts.

Official statistics do not make possible the accurate identification of the retail price of shirts from particular sources. We are advised, however, that a typical retail price for a shirt imported from a low-cost source such as Hong Kong or Portugal would be £2 to £3 and that the production cost of a shirt made in the United Kingdom would be within the same range, depending on the source and the cost of the material used.