asked the Minister of Food what was the profit per lb. made by the Ministry in the recent sales of edible nuts; and what percentage of profit does this represent on the cost price.

The profit per lb. was about 3s. 2d. which, based on ex-warehouse cost, was about 237 per cent.

Will the Minister agree that if the Association which normally handles these nuts had made that profit it would have been railed at and considered excessive?

Mr. H. D. Hughes:

Could the Minister say what the average price of these sales to the retailer was, and how it compares with the price of 10s. per lb. at which the nuts are selling in my constituency?

They have not been sold for a long time. We had not enough to sell last Christmas.

Does this mean that the Socialist Party is now convinced of the rightness of the profit motive?

Will the hon. Lady say why nuts imported in June, 1946, were not sold last Christmas?

Some were.