§ 39. Mr. Errollasked the Minister of Food why he has obtained such a small proportion of the output of tinned Malayan pineapples during the last 18 months for consumption in Britain; and what steps he is taking to secure a larger proportion of the output from this part of the sterling area.
§ Mr. StracheyOwing to neglect and damage to the estates during the war the production is, I fear, still negligible and such very small quantities as are available are being sold to other markets at prices which we cannot afford to pay.
§ Mr. ErrollAs there are, in fact, quite large quantities available, will not the Minister consider getting some of these British Empire pineapples, instead of American tinned pineapples?
§ Mr. StracheyThe answer to that is that we are getting no American tinned pineapples, and the quantities available are, at best, only 50,000 cases, as compared with a prewar import of 1,500,000, so that the quantities, unfortunately, are very small.