The Government are under agreement to purchase Australian zinc concentrates for a period of ten years next following the declaration of peace, but production has been suspended at Broken Hill during the past 12 months owing to a strike, and no concentrates have been acquired since 1st January, 1920. Stocks of concentrates are held in Australia by His Majesty's Government amounting to 503,000 tons. As regards the last part of the question, I am not prepared to recommend any extension of the buying operations of His Majesty's Government.