§ Sir W. Smithersasked the Minister of Food why he recently loaned to Eire 46,582 tons of maize which was in course of shipment to Britain; and why was it not used in England to raise pigs and thus save buying bacon from abroad.
§ Mr. StracheyI would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Londonderry (Sir R. Ross) on Monday, 13th December, 1948. The loan has in no way affected feedingstuffs rations in the United Kingdom. It represented a temporary diversion of a very small part of our current supplies.