§ Commander BELLAIRSasked the Minister of Agriculture (1) whether he has any information as to the production of potato flour in Great Britain as compared with the imports from Holland, and as to the extent to which glucose, dextrine, and potato syrup as by-products of potato flour are imported into this Country?
(2) Whether there has been any investigation into the relative production of potato flour in this Country and in Holland and the extent to which the cooperative system has benefited Holland since 1898 in potato flour production?
§ Sir P. CUNLIFFE-LISTERThe quantity of potato flour produced in the United Kingdom cannot be stated separately from that of dextrine produced. For these two commodities the output in Great Britain for sale amounted in 1924 to 39,000 cwt. In that year the imports into Great Britain and Northern Ireland from the Netherlands of these two products amounted together to 493,000 cwt. The imports of the other products of the potato, specified in the question, are not separately distinguished in the Accounts of the Trade of the United Kingdom.
According to an official report published by the Government of the Netherlands, the quantity of potato flour made in that country in the year 1922–3 was about 3,000,000 cwt., the output being exceptionally high owing to an abundant crop of potatoes in 1922. Figures for later years are not available. I am not in a position to determine the relative importance of the different influences affecting the Dutch industry.