§ THE EARL OF MUNSTERMy Lords, I beg to move that the Special Order be approved. Perhaps it would be better that I should give your Lordships some indication of what the Order does in view of the Resolution that was agreed to by the Special Orders Committee yesterday. They called attention particularly to the fact that under the Order the Irish Free State appears to be treated differently from the rest of the Empire. The reason for this is that the Irish Free State is the only part of the Empire from which there is any appreciable importation of main crop potatoes. The quantity has varied from year to year, and in 1931 it was 780,000 cwts. What I should like to impress upon your Lordships is that the application of the Order to the Irish Free State is in no sense a measure specially directed against that country, but is dictated by purely market conditions. It. is essential to the successful operation of the Potato Marketing Scheme that the bulk of the imports should be closely regulated, and to have left out so large a potential supplier as the Irish Free State would have prejudiced the whole operation of the Scheme. I do not think there is any need for me to delay your 398 Lordships further, but if there is any other point on which your Lordships wish to have information I shall be glad, in the absence of my noble friend, to supply it.
§ Moved, That the Special Order, as reported from the Special Orders Committee yesterday, be approved.—(The Earl of Munster.)
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.