§ Mr. Kimballasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food whether any decision has yet been taken on the future of the drying and storage service of Re-Commissioned Mills Limited.
Mr. AmoryThe loss on this service in the 1954–55 cereal year was £190,000 and it is estimated that there will be a loss of £300,000 in 1955–56. 4,419 growers used the service in 1954–55, and 1,383 have used it in 1955–56. The total number of growers of cereals in Great Britain who are registered under the Cereals Deficiency Payments Scheme is about 160,000. Thus only comparatively few farmers have made use of the scheme at a proportionately high cost to public funds.
The 22 silos and 2 bulk depot driers which are available for the service were used to only 49 per cent. of their intake capacity in 1954–55 and 26 per cent. in 1955–56. The rate of usage as between the individual units has varied widely but even if the scheme were concentrated on those of which most use has been made substantial loss of money would still be inevitable.
After full consideration of all the circumstances, and of representations by the National Farmers' Union, the Government are of opinion that, at a time when economy in public expenditure is an overriding consideration, they would not be justified in continuing to incur the loss which this service entails. Accordingly, it has been decided that the service shall be terminated on 30th June, 1956, and that thereafter the drying plant shall be put on a care and maintenance basis. The storage capacity will be kept available for use by the Government in its warehousing programme.