§ Mr. Stokesasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Supply whether he can give any estimate of the stocks of second-hand non-ferrous scrap metal in this country at the present time; and what steps he proposes to take to reduce these stocks to normal?
§ Mr. Harold MacmillanAccording to returns made by 220 merchants and 30 ingot makers, the stocks of copper, brass and other copper alloy scrap amounted to some 24,000 tons on 31st May, 1941. These stocks are not unduly large in view of the present scale of manufacturing industry. The Ministry of Supply encourage the use of a proportion of scrap metal wherever practicable, and have undertaken to buy low grade ingots of copper and brass which can be made from the inferior grades of scrap.