§ Sir D. NEWTONasked the President of the Board of Trade what sum of money, derived directly or indirectly from the activities of the Food Investigation Board of Ministry, has been devoted to prosecuting the interests of overseas producers of food by helping to bring their fruit here by cold storage and in other ways; and whether any and, if so, what allocation will be made to provide similar assistance in aid of cold or other systems of storage for English growers of fruit and other produce?
§ Mr. E. WOODI have been asked to reply to this question. No money has been devoted specially to the interests of the overseas producer of food. Certain research workers have been sent to Australia on an inquiry into the308W carriage of fruit from overseas, but the special expenses of this inquiry have been met out of other than Government funds. It is not possible to allocate money in the manner indicated in the last part. of the question. The work of the Food Investigation Board is confined to research, and the scientific problems involved in the storage of food produced at home or overseas are the same. The hon. Member will, therefore, appreciate that the results of this investigation will also be of value to home growers. The investigators were sent because the knowledge they will gain in their experiments will be of universal utility in the storage of food.