asked the Secretary of State for the Colonies if he will make a statement on the recent citrus negotiations with a delegation from the West Indies.

My hon. Friend is no doubt referring to the current negotiations between the Ministry of Health and the West Indian delegation for the supply of concentrated orange juice required for the welfare food service in 1961–62. These negotiations are still in progress. There have been no general negotiations with the West Indies on citrus since 1959.

More particularly as negotiations are still in progress, would my hon. Friend agree that West Indian production, especially of orange juice from British Honduras, is now running at a very high level—so high that it cannot readily be disposed of? In the interests both of the economy of the West Indies and of the health of the children of Britain, would my hon. Friend make representations to his right hon. Friend the Minister of Health that he should give the maximum publicity to the availability of this concentrated orange juice for all children under five as a very good and rather cheap source of vitamin C?

Yes, I thank my hon. Friend.