§ Mr. Lipsonasked the Minister of Food what offers have been made by countries of the Empire to help this country to make good its shortage of food supplies.
§ Sir B. SmithMany of our arrangements with Empire countries for food stuffs cover the maximum available supplies and some are of a long-term nature extending in certain cases to 1948. Any attempt to specify in detail all the offers of help from these countries might, therefore, be misleading. I am glad, however, to be able to say that we have received during recent weeks many encouraging assurances, for which we are deeply grateful, that the utmost efforts are being made to increase supplies even beyond the quantities which had previously been thought possible.