HL Deb 05 August 1947 vol 151 cc1018-9

5.55 p.m.

LORD AMHERST OF HACKNEY

My Lords, I make no apology, owing to the importance of the subject, for asking this question at this late hour. As the question is self-explanatory, I will merely ask leave to put the question standing in my name.

[The question was as follows:

To ask His Majesty's Government, the number of tractors, ploughs other categories of agricultural machinery exported during the last three months and what percentage these numbers represent of the total production of each category for the same period.]

LORD CHORLEY

My Lords, with regard to tractors, 3,245 tractors were exported in the second quarter of this year, but I am not able to give the exact numbers of other types of agricultural machinery exported because no records of these are kept. The manufacturers, however, make returns to the Ministry of Agriculture of the quantities they are manufacturing for export, which, of course, is not quite the same thing. These returns show that 20,878 tractors, 18,364 ploughs, and 8,869 other machines were produced in the same period, of which the percentages produced for export were, respectively, 22, 60 and 23 per cent. Exports in this quarter were affected by the fact that a number of machines were diverted to the home market to help farmers who were particularly badly hit by the difficulties of the winter, especially by floods, and therefore the number produced for export is higher than the number which were in fact exported.