Oral Answers to Questions — Food Supplies – in the House of Commons at on 17 March 1943.
Mr Robert Young
, Newton
asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether his attention has been called to the condemnation of supplies of oranges and corned beef, etc., by the sanitary inspector of Golborne, Lancashire; and whether he can give any explanation why these commodities became unfit for human consumption and say on whom the ultimate cost of the loss falls?
Mr William Mabane
, Huddersfield
I am aware of the condemnations referred to by my hon. Friend. The oranges were Spanish sour oranges and formed part of an allocation to a manufacturer. It is impossible to prevent a proportion of imported fruit from deteriorating while in transit. The corned beef condemned formed part of a consignment of goods which had been rejected by the Ministry's reconditioning agents as unfit for further storage. In both instances the loss falls on the Ministry of Food.
Mr Robert Young
, Newton
Can the Minister say whether it is possible to arrest the conveyance of such commodities before they reach the traders here?
Mr William Mabane
, Huddersfield
It is rather a question of arresting them before they reach this country.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
