Mr. GORDON HARVEYasked the President of the Board of Trade if he can state the amount of farina imported into the United Kingdom from Germany in the year before the War; if he is able to say, approximately, how many tons of potatoes were used in its manufacture; and whether he is having any investigations made with a view of ascertaining if the necessary potatoes could be grown and the business of extracting the starch carried on in this country?
§ Mr. PRETYMANFourteen thousand seven hundred tons of farina were imported from Germany in 1913, and this quantity would have required for its manufacture about 100,000 tons of potatoes. I understand that the Board of Agriculture have from time to time considered the possibility of making farina from British-grown potatoes, but that the difficulty is one of price.