asked the Minister of Food why he has obtained such a small proportion of the output of tinned Malayan pineapples during the last 18 months for consumption in Britain; and what steps he is taking to secure a larger proportion of the output from this part of the sterling area.

Owing to neglect and damage to the estates during the war the production is, I fear, still negligible and such very small quantities as are available are being sold to other markets at prices which we cannot afford to pay.

As there are, in fact, quite large quantities available, will not the Minister consider getting some of these British Empire pineapples, instead of American tinned pineapples?

The answer to that is that we are getting no American tinned pineapples, and the quantities available are, at best, only 50,000 cases, as compared with a prewar import of 1,500,000, so that the quantities, unfortunately, are very small.