§ LORD HINDLIP rose to ask His Majesty's Government—(1) What is the estimated average crop of plums in the United Kingdom this year. (2) By what Department was the estimate made. (3) Is it the intention of the Ministry of Food to fix prices for plums on the estimated crop of the United Kingdom, adopting the same system of average as in the case of small soft fruits of the 1918 Crop.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, at this time of the evening I will not detain your Lordships more than two or three moments. My reasons for putting down this Question are that the growers, many of them interested in the plum and apple crop, were not very satisfied with the "brief" that was furnished by the Ministry of Food to the Lord Privy Seal, and are much agitated as to the way in which they are to he treated as regards the plum and apple crop by the Ministry of Food. They are not asking for outrageous prices, but only for fair treatment. May I draw the noble Earl's attention to my third Question? On the last Occasion the noble Earl said that the Ministry of Food were going to adhere to their methods of averaging the crop all over the United Kingdom, and that it was impossible to have one price for Worcestershire and one for Middlesex. I do not want to go into that, but in the case of potatoes, both as regards price and yield, it has been done.
§ Let me also draw the noble Earl's attention to the statement he made, which concerned the plum crop as well as the small fruit crop during the debate a week or ten days ago. He said that according to the calculations of the Ministry of Food small growers were allowed a profit of £10 per acre. I think, if the noble Earl went into the figures given in his own speech, he would see that the Ministry of Food were putting him in a rather difficult position by making him say that a profit of £10 per acre was a reason 976 able profit. Consider the case of a man with five, or six, or seven, acres of land, out of which he has to get his livelihood. He is debarred by a Government Department from making more than £10 an acre; say £50, £60 or £70 a year, when wages are 30s. a week. The noble Earl will agree with me that such a statement will be badly received by the small growers.
§ I do not know whether I ought to ask the noble Earl this question. I have not given him notice, and therefore I shall not be disappointed if he tells me he cannot answer. I should like to know whether it is possible that any producer of fruit has been on these Committees which fix prices. I am not asking this in regard to the prices of fruit, but I think producers of fruit in the country will be anxious to know that there is some producer of fruit on the Committees which fix prices.
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDMy Lords, I do not desire to re-open matters which were dealt with the other day. When I said it was impossible to fix county prices I was referring to specified classes of soft fruit. My noble friend will see, from the terms of my answer, that this does not apply in the same way to plums. With regard to the composition of the Committees, I fancy that growers of fruit are under a needless misapprehension. Growers are represented on these Committees. They are not composed solely of jam buyers, as my noble friend suggested the other day, and the Reports in question are obtained by the Ministry of Food and the three Boards of Agriculture, who combine and agree upon a figure which they consider to be just. These Reports, so far as plums are concerned, I regret to say, show that the crop of this season, as far as many varieties are concerned, is a total failure, and there is no intention of attempting to compute the average crop of all varieties taken together, and to fix a flat maximum price for plums. I am not yet in a position to give any estimate of the yield of any particular variety, and I cannot answer the first Question for the moment, at any rate. I have already answered the second Question; that the estimate is made by the three Boards of Agriculture in conjunction with the Ministry of Food. As at present advised, the Food Controller only intends to fix prices for those varieties of plums of which there is a substantial crop, and which are suitable for manufacture into jam. In fixing these prices the general 977 principles adopted in the case of the soft fruit this season will be followed, and I am not aware that there is any other method by which the interests of the producer and consumer can both be adequately protected.
§ LORD HINDLIPMay I take it that the answer refers to special plums grown in the south of England?
THE EARL OF CRAWFORDCertainly. The Pershire plum is one of those which comes into the second category that I mentioned, because it is a first-class plum for jam purposes.