§ LORD BALFOUR OF BURLEIGH had the following Notice on the Paper—
§ To call attention to recent announcements made public to the effect that no sugar would be allotted to those who grow their own fruit in the present year, and to ask His Majesty's Government whether it is not possible to make some modification of this policy, which otherwise will be productive of considerable inconvenience and hardship.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, I shall not intervene more than a moment between the House and the important business which comes second on the Notice Paper. As a preliminary point, I should like to assure the noble Lord the Food Controller that this Question is not conceived in any spirit of hostility to him or his work. I think all the House recognises not only the great difficulty and intricacy of the work which he has undertaken, but his unselfishness in undertaking it, and the great energy, coupled with great cheerfulness, with which he answers criticisms and does his best to get us all to agree in the things that are necessary.
§ The announcement that there would be no sugar for making jam for private growers of fruit has undoubtedly caused a certain amount of trouble and misgiving. I think, on the other hand, that if it is really necessary everybody will acquiesce; I, for one, if the necessity is proved, will not say a word in hostility. But the reasons given and the explanations supplied have undoubtedly raised some doubts. It is suggested that private growers of fruit can send their fruit to manufacturers of jam. I say that this is absolutely impossible. I do not want to use a hard word, but it is so silly that the author should almost be put in a lunatic asylum. Because you may be five miles from a railway station; you may have a total of 15 lbs. or 20 lbs. of fruit, ripening for three weeks according to weather, and you simply cannot organise beforehand and arrange to send small quantities of soft fruit to a town. And I do not think it is fair to country people to suggest that they, as distinguished from 1174 town people, should save sugar out of the very small rations to which they have already been cut down. But if it is possible to save out of that ration, or if it is necessary even to cut it down, then I say that the same treatment should be given to country and town alike.
§ All I would hope is that at some time or other, perhaps not to-night, the noble Lord the Food Controller would give us the facts as to the supply of sugar available and the use that is made of it. Many of us are apprehensive that more is going for things like beer, and perhaps even for confectionery, than is absolutely necessary. If you are to put in competition the expediency of using sugar for jam with its use for confectionery, I think it will be agreed that it would be much wiser to devote a much larger quantity to jam than to the confectionery which one sees displayed in shop windows. I will not make a speech now, but it may be necessary hereafter to refer again to the subject.
§ THE FOOD CONTROLLER (LORD RHONDDA)My Lords, I am very much obliged to the noble Lord for postponing his Question until to-day, and I appreciate very greatly the kind personal references which he has made to myself and to the work of my Department. I do not know that I shall be able to give him an answer which will completely satisfy him, but I can assure him that I am in entire sympathy with the aims that he has in view. I am afraid I cannot give him now—I do not think it would be advisable—the figures relating to stocks of sugar or to the position of sugar generally, but at a later day I may be able to do so.
The announcement recently made by the chairman of the Royal Commission on the Sugar Supply was intended as an exhortation to those who might wish to make jam during the coming season to endeavour to save as much sugar as possible for the purpose out of their own domestic rations. It was not intended to be a decision that had been arrived at by my Department, but merely a note of warning in view of eventualities. Whether it will be possible to make allotments of sugar for jam-making to those who grow their own fruit must depend on the stocks of sugar available at the time. I have been discussing the matter with Sir Charles Bathurst and my advisers, and hope that the supplies will permit reasonable allotments 1175 being made, though I cannot at this time give any definite promise or say how much may be allowed.
I am fully aware of the importance of encouraging jam-making and preventing any waste of fruit by private growers, and your Lordships may rely on my doing what is possible. I may add that arrangements are being made, in co-operation with the Food Production Department, to provide for the collection of fruit grown by cottagers. I do not suggest that the cottagers themselves should send their fruit to the jam manufacturers, but we propose to provide for the collection of fruit grown by cottagers and other small growers, and for its transmission to pulping stations for conversion into pulp which can be used for the manufacture of jam.
LORD HARRISMy Lords, may I, as one who lives in a fruit-growing county, endeavour to persuade the noble Lord that it is an entire delusion to suppose that he can set up any system of transport that could possibly collect soft and perishable fruit from cottagers. The fruit must be collected and packed and got to market in a very short time, and the amount of transport required to go round villages in a fruit-growing district and collect from each small grower would be very large indeed, and I am perfectly certain that there is not the transport available to do it.
THE EARL OF ROSSLYNMay I suggest to the noble Lord a matter which has come before me and in which I am extremely interested, and that is that the very large number of soldiers who are in sedentary occupations but still wear His Majesty's uniform are drawing fourteen ounces of sugar a week. I am perfectly certain that the Quartermaster-General of the Army would be the first person to arrange and the soldiers themselves would be the first persons to insist on the giving up of a portion of that ration.
§ LORD RHONDDAI can only say that I note what Lord Rosslyn and Lord Harris have said. I will bear it in mind, and consult my advisers upon it, and if I find it necessary to make any change in the announcement that has been made, it will be done.