§ Viscount WOLMERasked the Food Controller whether linseed cake is now purchaseable in India at a very low cost; and, if so, whether he can arrange for greater shipping facilities to be given for the shipment of the same from India to this country free on board?
§ Mr. McCURDYThe price of Indian linseed cake is at present £12 to £13 per ton, f.o.b., Calcutta. Dealing in linseed and other cattle cakes is no longer controlled, and traders desiring to import this cake from India can obtain adequate facilities for doing so.
§ Viscount WOLMERasked the Food Controller whether he can state the price of cotton-cake purchased in Egypt free on board, the cost of freight to England, and the price at which it is sold plus ship London to merchants?
§ Mr. McCURDYThe price of cotton-cake in Egypt, which is controlled by the Egyptian Government, averages 105s. a ton free on board Alexandria. The freight charged to the Ministry of Food is 62s. 6d. per ton; other charges amount to 25s. per ton. The cake is not sold" ex ship" but "ex quay," and the price charged to merchants is £15 per ton. The case of Egyptain cotton-cake cannot, however, be considered by itself, since it has been necessary for the Ministry of Food to purchase the remainder of its supplies in far more expensive markets, and the profit obtained on the sale of Egyptian cake has been used in reduction of the price of other cake to the consumer. I may add that the amount of Egyptian cotton-cake imported since September, 1918, is 23,000 tons, and the amount of the more expensive cake imported since the same date is 70,000 tons. It was only by the importation of the latter amount that the Food Controller was enabled to relax the severe rationing system of feeding-stuffs to animals.