§ 35. Sir T. Mooreasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer what was the total value of the gold allocated to the dental profession including hospitals, during the year 1951, for the manufacture of dentures and for filling teeth.
§ The Minister of State for Economic Affairs (Sir Arthur Salter)The value of gold supplied from official sources for essential dental requirements in 1951 was about £200,000 at the official price.
§ Sir T. MooreAccording to my information the sum was in the region of £1 million. Is not my right hon. Friend aware that chrome cobalt alloys have been used for 20 years precisely for these purposes and that five million dentures alone were made of this substance in the United States? Must not the leak of gold be stopped and does not this substance offer the opportunity?
§ Sir A. SalterThe information I have was the most accurate I could get. My information is that the figure was £200,000. The situation is being continually reviewed with the object of seeing whether, by the use of substitutes, that expenditure of gold can be reduced.
§ Sir T. MooreAs my right hon. Friend and the Treasury are obviously misinformed on this point, I beg to give notice that I shall endeavour to raise the matter on the Adjournment.