asked the Minister of Works what has been the price paid for Belgian bricks; what quantity of these bricks have been imported; and at what price they are sold to British contractors.

The estimated average cost of English sized Belgian bricks unloaded at U.K. port is £8 per thousand. For Belgian sized bricks the figure is £6 4s. per thousand. Up to date the approximate numbers shipped are 50 million and eight million respectively. The English sized bricks are sold at the controlled prices, which vary from area to area, for comparable types of home-produced bricks; the Belgian sized bricks are sold at three-quarters of these figures. In both cases the cost of carriage from port to site is extra.

Is it not a fact that the right hon. Gentleman's Department was offered, in the early part of 1946, 80 million Belgian bricks at a price of 75s.-79s. per thousand, free alongside, London, which he refused?

No. I do not think so.

Were the bricks bulk purchased by the Government?

Yes.

Worse luck.