asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether his attention has been drawn to the extremely small supply of soft fruit available in the area comprising the North Midlands, Yorkshire and Lancashire; and will he consider making this a separate area to enable merchants to secure the quickest possible delivery, that is by passenger train, wherever that was the pre-war practice?

The supply of soft fruit which is available for distribution through retailers, that is after pre-emption of supplies for jam manufacture, is so limited that it would not be practicable to make arrangements for wide or equitable distribution throughout the country. I regret that I can give no undertaking that soft fruits will be conveyed by passenger train to the majority of consuming areas during the war period.