§ Mr. G. LAMBERTasked the Food Controller whether he is aware that California sardines and pilchards were bought and paid for continuously from the autumn of 1917 to the late spring of 1918, and latterly under the direct authority of the Department of Import Restrictions; whether full information was supplied to the Ministry of Food as to the commitments of importers not only by the importers themselves, but by the London Chamber of Commerce; whether an embargo was placed in June last upon shipment of such goods for private account, and whether such embargo was placed secretly without 2519W notice to the importers concerned; and whether he has received a protest from the chambers of commerce of London, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Gateshead, Glasgow, and Bristol, and the Imperial Commercial Association, pointing out that the course pursued in this and other matters has decreased the supplies of food for the people of the country, increased its cost, and inflicted damage upon the national revenue?
§ Major ASTORAs to the first part of the question, I would refer my hon. Friend to the answer which I gave him on the 5th instant. A list was supplied early in February by the London Chamber of Commerce of consignments of canned pilchards and canned salmon awaiting shipment in the United States of America. No embargo, secret or otherwise, has been placed on the shipment of goods so licensed in uncontrolled tonnage; but, as indicated in the previous answer, owing to the demands made on tonnage for the shipment and supply of American troops, it was not possible to allot controlled tonnage space for the carriage of sardines and pilchards. With regard to the last part of the question, there is no record of any protest having been received from the bodies mentioned on the subject of the importation of Californian sardines and pilchards.