§ 92. Mr. Fernyhoughasked the Secretary of State for Commonwealth Relations, in view of the impending famine in Madras, Bihar and Bombay, whether he will consider rendering immediate help to our Commonwealth friends even at the expense of our own food supplies.
§ Mr. Gordon-WalkerI refer my hon. Friend to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for Hornsey (Mr. Gammans) on 5th April. I should add that shipping is no less necessary than supplies of food. Although the tonnage at our disposal was already seriously strained, we have been able to charter for India about 40 ships over the period January-June, most or all of which would otherwise have been190W available for our own import programme. The value of this assistance was acknowledged by the Indian Minister of Food in a speech in Parliament on 7th April, when he said that the ships thus provided had been mainly responsible for the fact that the Indian Government was today able to feed the country.