§ 62. Mr. DIXEYasked the Financial Secretary to the Treasury whether any Government contracts for meat are given either to foreign or colonial producers; and whether, in view of the present depression in agriculture, he will consider confining such contracts entirely to the British producer?
Mr. SAMUELI would refer my hon. Friend to the reply which my predecessor gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Devizes on the 11th July last. From this reply, of which I am sending him a copy, he will see that the meat purchased for the Army, the Navy and the Air Force last year consisted in the main of British Overseas Empire produce. Considerations of public expenditure preclude the acceptance of the suggestion contained in the last part of my hon. Friend's question.