§ Mr. Yorkasked the Minister of Food the quantity of Canadian wheat imported during the first six months of 1946 and what was the price paid, respectively, to Canada for transport to a British port.
§ Mr. StracheyThe answer to the first part of the Question is 34,126,920 cwt. The average price paid to Canada was 14s. 8.4d. per cwt. f.o.b. Atlantic seaboard and 13s. 6d. per cwt. f.o.b Pacific seaboard. The freight charges for transporting wheat from Canada to the United Kingdom are not paid to Canada but to the shipowners, mainly British, whose vessels carry the wheat.
§ Mr. Yorkasked the Minister of Food the amounts of wheat to be imported under the Canadian wheat agreement in each year, in cwts. or tons; and what are the prices per cwt. to be paid each year in shillings and pence.
§ Mr. StracheyOn the basis of the quantities specified in the Agreement, the information asked for in the first part of the Question is as follows:
Crop Year Cwts. 1946–47 … … 85,714,286 1947–48 … … 85,714,286 1948–49 … … 75,000,000 1949–50 … … 75,000,000 As regards the second part of the Question, the sterling equivalent assuming an exchange rate of 4.02 dollars to the £ of the price of 1 dollar 55 cents per bushel for No. 1 Manitoba Northern, in store at Fort William, Port Arthur, Vancouver, or Churchill, stipulated in the Agreement in respect of wheat bought in the crop years 1946–47 and 1947–48 is 14s. 4¾d. per cwt. A sterling equivalent for the 1948–49 and 1949–50 prices cannot be given, as the actual prices for these years are to be negotiated and settled not later than 31st December, 1948, respectively.
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§ Mr. Thornton-Kemsleyasked the Minister of Food if he is aware that the average amount of Canadian flour imported in the five years 1933–37 was approximately 210,000 tons per annum, as compared with the 300,000 tons for each of the last two years covered by the wheat agreement recently concluded with the Government of Canada; and, since this represents a considerable loss of animal feedingstuffs, if he will give an undertaking that in any similar agreements concluded in future, as large a proportion as possible of the. cereal importation shall be in the form of whole grains instead of flour.
§ Mr. StracheyI am anxious to increase the supply of animal feedingstuffs in every possible way, and the hon. Member's suggestion will certainly be borne in mind should any similar agreement be contemplated in the future.