asked the Minister of Food if he is aware that 1,100 tons of Italian filberts and 700 tons of walnuts were sold upon the instructions of his Ministry at the London Fruit Exchange on 24th November; will he state the dates upon which these nuts were imported into this country; and why this information was not published in the sale catalogue.

The reply to the first part of the Question is "Yes." These nuts were shipped to this country at various dates between June, 1946, and March, 1947. Representative samples from each parcel of nuts were available for inspection for three days prior to the auction, and a full description of the nuts was given in the catalogue.