asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will direct the Monopolies Commission to investigate and report on the refining of sugar.

The Monopolies Commission is at work on the six cases referred to them in March, and is not yet ready to undertake further work. I cannot anticipate the choice of subjects for future references.

Well then, was not it bootless for the President to make a speech accusing the sugar industry of being a harmful monopoly unless he was prepared straight away to refer this matter to the Commission?

The phrase I used was that it was a monopoly—I should not have thought that fact was in any dispute—as defined under the Monopolies Act, of which I am sure the hon. Gentleman has seen a copy. I did not use the phrase that it was a harmful monopoly.

Does the President deny that he said that in view of the fact that it was a monopoly in which one of the people's basic foodstuffs was concerned, the sugar industry should be entrusted to the representatives of the people?

That seems to be a very different thing from the statement just attributed to me by the hon. Gentleman.