§ 38. Mr. LEWIS HASLAMasked the President of the Board of Trade whether thousands of cases of chocolate or cocoa are lying at docks in the United Kingdom and, if so, will he take steps to liberate them for home trade purposes; whether there are also at the docks large stocks of cocoa beans and, if so, will he take steps so that they may be utilised for popular consumption; and, if this end cannot be obtained here owing to the shortage of sugar, will he consider the desirability of making arrangements with Swiss firms by which these stocks may be, under contract, returned to this country in the form of chocolate, of which a supply is needed by small retail traders and the poorer classes?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of TRADE (Mr. G. Roberts)I am informed that a number of consignments of chocolate lying at the docks pending the issue of import licences will be dealt with as soon as the quantities which each importing firm is entitled to import under their rations have been ascertained. But the importers may remove their consignments at once with a view to putting them into store under conditions which have been explained to them. The amount of raw cocoa under detention is believed to be negligible, and so much of it as is of British Colonial origin is being released at once.