EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, this Order represents a further step in the changeover from emergency to permanent powers as the basis for providing guarantees for agricultural produce listed in the First Schedule to the Agriculture Act, 1947. Like the corresponding Orders for fatstock and cereals which your Lordships have already considered, this Order is made under Section 4 of the Act. It brings under the legislative authority of Part I of the Act the administrative arrangements for providing the guarantee for potatoes. I beg to move.
§ Moved, That the Potatoes (Guaranteed Prices) Order, 1955, reported from the Special Orders Committee on Wednesday last, be approved.—(Earl St. Aldwyn.)
§ LORD WISEMy Lords, before this Order is approved, I should like to ask the noble Earl one question about the financial provision. I understand that the amount of money involved is approximately £4 million. I presume that that is the loss which the Ministry will incur by the sale of potatoes, either for human 978 consumption or for stock feeding, as against the support price which the farmers receive—that may be a varying amount, according to the losses and the quantity of the crop. I wonder whether the noble Earl can tell the House the basis on which the sum of £3,900,000 has been arrived at: whether that has been obtained from the experience of the past, whether it is estimated to be the maximum amount of loss, or whether, in fact, it may be more money than is required.
EARL ST. ALDWYNMy Lords, this figure is calculated on averages worked out on past years and by the appearance of the crops at the beginning of this season. The figure of £3.9 million includes all running costs as well, and is not just the difference between what is paid for potatoes and the price at which they are sold for feeding-stuffs.
§ On Question, Motion agreed to.