asked the Minister for Industry and Commerce if he is aware that there are a number of mills throughout the country worked by water power and fully equipped for the manufacture of flour from wheat; if he will grant to those of them who are prepared to purchase wheat and mill it into flour a licence under the same conditions, including subsidy, as those held by other flour millers.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Licences for Flour Mills.
The answer is in the negative. I am not at present prepared to grant any further milling licences. I am prepared to consider, however, in consultation with the Minister for Agriculture, applications for permits to mill home-grown wheat only. Under the provisions of Emergency Powers Order No. 165 such permitted mills may mill only for growers, but not for sale, and only to the extent indicated in the Order.
Arising out of the reply of the Parliamentary Secretary, will he or the Minister not consider that at the moment it is advisable to grant licences to such millers as I have referred to, in view of the state of transport? It would mean the saving of the cartage of the wheat 35 and 40 miles to mills, and the cartage of the flour the same distance back from the mills, which is an important consideration at the moment, when the Minister tells us that we shall have no transport at all very shortly. Will the Parliamentary Secretary consider going into this matter with a view to seeing that the milling will be done by these water mills, where the wheat can be milled as efficiently as it can be by other mills at present, and thus save the transport involved in the cartage of the wheat or flour?