§ Mr. ROTHSCHILDasked the President of the Board of Trade if he will state what the average weekly consumption of motor spirit in this country is; and how much of this is supplied from home resources and would be available for use in this country should outside supplies be cut off?
Mr. BUXTONThe quantity of motor spirit delivered for home consumption during the first five months of the current year (including both duty-paid and duty-free spirit) represented an average weekly consumption of 1,089,000 gallons, of which 1,060,000 gallons consisted of imported motor spirit and 29,000 gallons of homemade spirit. The bulk of the latter is made in Scotland from native oil shale, but a small though not exactly ascertained proportion is distilled from imported petroleum.