§ Mr. Bossomasked the Minister of Food if, before making any contracts for foreign fruit for 1950, he will consult with the National Farmers Union, particularly the section for Kent, to avoid a repetition of the loss experienced by Kentish farmers over pears in 1949.
§ Mr. StracheyApples are the only fruit grown in this country which my Department imports under contract. Annual imports of apples are still less than a third of the volume imported in pre-war years and since every effort is made to ensure that the bulk of the imported supplies, which consist mainly of eating varieties, are distributed at a time when the home-grown crop is wholly insufficient to meet the demand, I can see no necessity for consultation with the growers. So far as pears are concerned, I could not agree that the private imports we allowed have been too heavy, since home production is well below the demand.