§ LORD BLEDISLOE rose to ask His Majesty's Government to what extent potatoes grown in Germany are now being imported into this country through the medium of Holland, Denmark, Sweden, and other Continental countries, without payment of the 33 percent. or any other duty; at what price such. potatoes are being sold in Great Britain, and whether in their judgment there is any chance of home-grown potatoes being raised at any margin of profit in face of such competition.
§ The noble Lord said: My Lords, in asking this Question I desire to make it clear that I am seeking information, and not attempting by my Question in any way to convey it. I have no personal knowledge on this matter, but there is a rumour current in all our chief potato growing districts, notably in the Lothians of Scotland, in Lincolnshire, Lancashire, and elsewhere. 211 that large quantities of potatoes, raised in Germany, are being imported, or are about to be imported, into this country through various neutral countries, such as Holland, Denmark, and Sweden, without any payment of the 33⅓ per cent which, I believe, German potatoes are supposed to pay on importation into the United Kingdom, or any other Duty.
§ Assuming that this importation is taking place it is somewhat remarkable, because the potato harvest has not been a particularly favourable one, and yet the price of British potatoes is very low—much too low to leave the growers in most parts of the country any margin of profit. It is quite clear that, if the Government are anxious that potato production should increase and prosper in this country, it is most undesirable that potatoes raised in Germany, with very cheap labour and in the existing condition of international exchange, should enter so severely into competition with our own potatoes as to render it impossible to produce them here at a profit.
§ I should like to remind your Lordships that there are two farm products, both of them very important, in respect of which we are entirely self-contained, one of them being potatoes and the other milk; and, in view of the "scrapping" of the Agriculture Act and of the corn production policy which it embodied, it has become of far greater importance than formerly that. we should remain self-contained in the matter of our potato production, upon which, in times of very serious national emergency, we shall undoubtedly have to depend. Having said that I should like to put to the Government the Questions of which I have given Notice, and in particular, whether, in the event of any attempt to import German potatoes surreptitiously through other countries, the Government are prepared to take steps to put a stop to it.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY OF THE MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE AND FISHERIES (THE EARL OF ANCASTER)My Lords, the importation of potatoes from the Netherlands and other countries adjacent to Germany in the present year is quite normal, and gives no ground for suspicion that fictitious re-consignment of German potatoes from an intermediate country is being attempted. I think the noble Lord has rather confused 212 two different questions. There is at the present moment a payment of 26 per cent. under the German Reparation (Recovery) Act, and I understand that the Customs officers have standing instructions to watch importations which might cause suspicion to arise that endeavours are being made to avoid, by fictitious re-consignment from an intermediate country, the payment of this 26 per cent.
Then the noble Lord refers to the 33⅓ per cent. That is charged in certain cases, as noble Lords will no doubt remember, under the Safeguarding of Industries Act. The first part of -that Act does not apply to potatoes, because potatoes are not in the Schedule; it refers to key industries. And Part II of the Act does not refer to potatoes because that Part of the Act prevents dumping, which particularly excludes articles of food and drink. From inquiries which have been made by the Ministry of Agriculture I understand that the trade in Continental potatoes is bad. In the few cases where trade is being done the quality of the potatoes is moderate. The Ministry is satisfied that the quantities which are being imported are not an important factor in determining the price of home-grown potatoes. I do not think I can follow the noble Lord further and go into a debate now on the merits of the taxation of foreign imports of foodstuffs.