Mr. David Adamsasked the Under-Secretary of State for the Colonies whether he is aware that only about one-third of the bananas purchased by the Government from banana growers has been shipped, whilst quantities continue to be burned or dumped at sea; and whether, as there is considerable malnutrition among Jamaican school children, surplus bananas can be distributed at the schools or otherwise supplied to necessitous children?
§ Mr. Harold MacmillanI am fully aware that wartime conditions have prevented the export of a large proportion of the Jamaica banana crop; the scheme of Government purchase was devised for the specific purpose of meeting that situation. Bananas which cannot be exported from Jamaica are so far as possible sold or distributed free to the genuine poor and in some schools. At the present time, practically the whole surplus is being so disposed of, and a special committee is extending the system of low-price sales and free distribution. Even so, some dumping is inevitable at the periods of highest production, since transport cannot always be made available at such periods to move the fruit from the producing to the consuming areas, but my hon. Friend may rest assured that every effort is being made to consume the surplus with the minimum recourse to dumping at any time. My hon. Friend will realise that even in normal times the local consumption of bananas is considerable, and is not capable of indefinite extension.