§ Sir C. RAWSONasked the Minister of Agriculture whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that, in spite of 261W the difficulty in finding a home market for Dartmoor, New Forest, and Exmoor ponies, 300 ponies were disembarked at the port of London in 1931; and will His Majesty's Government take steps to place an embargo on imports of ponies from Russia?
§ Major ELLIOTThe commodities included in the recent Royal Proclamation issued under the Russian Goods (Import Prohibition) Act covered the great bulk of imports into this country from Russia. Certain items of lesser financial importance for reasons of administrative convenience were not included, and among these were ponies, of which only 11 were imported into the United Kingdom from Russia last year. I do not, therefore, see my way to adopt my hon. Friend's suggestion. My hon. Friend will, of course, recognise that the Act was not passed for the purpose of protecting producers in this country.