§ 49. Mr. Keelingasked the Minister of Food whether in view of the shortage of cultivated fruit for bottling and preserving and the damage done by recent frosts, he has any plan for an increased use of wild blackberries.
§ The Minister of Food (Mr. Strachey)Fortunately now it seems that the damage done to the fruit crop by frosts is not really serious this year, so I think that the jam making industry will get all the blackberries it can use. Housewives have just had an extra pound of sugar per head for preserving and will get another pound at the end of June.
§ Mr. KeelingIs the Minister aware that 90 per cent, of this crop is probably wasted? And is it not a confession of failure on the part of his Department, in view of the present shortage, to have no plan for preventing this waste?
§ Mr. StracheyNobody is preventing people from picking blackberries.