55. Major Millsasked the Minister of Agriculture whether he will take steps to encourage the importation of wheat whole, instead of as flour, in order to increase the amount of home-milled offals and to keep down the cost of the standard feeding-stuffs ration in connection with the Government's bacon industry proposals?
§ Mr. RamsbothamIt is doubtful whether the steps proposed by my hon. and gallant Friend would achieve the object in view. It is estimated that the offals obtainable from the milling of a quantity of wheat equivalent to the flour imported in 1937 would amount only to 166,000 tons, whereas 624,000 tons of wheat offals were imported in that year and total supplies of wheat offals were of the order of 2,100,000 tons. Moreover, the curtailment of imports of flour would probably lead to a decline in the quantity of wheat offals exported to this country, with the result that total supplies in the United Kingdom would be little altered.