§ Mr. FARRELLasked the Food Controller whether it is proposed to apply the new Potato Bread Order to Ireland; whether the opinion of any expert authority on diet in Ireland has been obtained as to the suitability of using potato flour in this way; whether he is aware that under existing Orders the war bread supplied in Ireland is already of a very inferior quality, and has materially injured the health especially of the poor using the war bread; and whether, in view of the increase of tillage and the extension of the wheat area in the three Kingdoms, he will consider the possibility of making the present war bread better, instead of proposing a substitute the utility of which has to be proved?
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§ Major ASTORThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The use of a small percentage of potatoes in the manufacture of bread was favoured by the late Sir Henry Thompson, Professor of Physiology in the University of Dublin, and Scientific Adviser to the Ministry of Food. The quality of bread supplied in Ireland is the same as that supplied in England; it is perfectly wholesome and of high nutritive value, and the utility of the proposed admixture has already been proved.