§ 36. Mr. Yorkasked the Minister of Food what were the numbers of fat cattle pur- 843 chased from farmers in the periods 1st December, 1945, to 1st March, 1946, and 1st December, 1946, to 1st March, 1947.
§ Mr. StracheyTwo hundred and eighty-three thousand, two hundred and sixty three in the 13 weeks ended 2nd March, 1946, and 266,696 in the 13 weeks ended 1st March, 1947.
§ Mr. YorkIs the Minister looking into the reason for this decline; and does he understand that this meat growing is extraordinarily difficult upon the very narrow margin which is now allowed?
§ Mr. StracheyNo, Sir. I should not attribute it to that cause. I should attribute this particular small variation in the figures to the weather conditions of the last two months, and I should have thought that, from a long-term point of view, it is much more a question of the availability of feedingstuffs.