§ 49. Sir D. Robertsonasked the Minister of Agriculture whether, in view of the net profit of £640,699 resulting from the sale of the requisitioned clip of home-produced wool for the year ended 30th April, 1948, he will return this money to the farmers or alternatively use the profit for increasing current wool prices to producers.
Mr. T. WilliamsNo. The net profit of £640,699 resulted from the sale of wool requisitioned in 1947. The price paid to wool growers for the 1948 clip was increased over the 1947 level by 9d. a lb. for wool from hill sheep, and by36W 6d. a lb. for all other fleece wool. These increases represented an addition of about £1,400,000 to the sums paid to growers. There will be a further increase in the prices to be paid for the 1949 clip.