London, July 6.
The Prime Minister, Mr. Neville Chamberlain, received this evening in the House of Commons a delegation of MPs who called on him to ask explanations of certain part of his recent speech at Kettering. The passages in question dealt with the development of agriculture in the British Isles.
Answering the questions of the delegation, Mr. Chamberlain stated again that the defence of the country "must remain based on the supremacy of the British navy. Whatever the efforts made for the development of agriculture, one cannot reasonably expect Great Britain to become self-sufficient in the matter of food products."
The Prime Minister emphasized, however, that he did not mean by this that the Government were disinterested in questions of land-tilling. He meant simply that it was useless to attempt artificial expansion of agricultural production in the country. The best methods to aid farming in its natural growth would be through the Customs and by limiting imports.
Mr. Chamberlain assured his callers that the Government were resolved to spare no efforts to give agriculture the place to which it has a right, in national economics.
Mr. Chamberlain's explanation appears to have checked the discontent felt against the Government by extreme Rightist Conservative quarters of late. A communique issued after the conference between the Premier and the Parliamentary delegation stated:
"The members of the delegation thanked the Prime Minister for his statement, which they felt removed misunderstanding and would aid to relieve the anxiety that has been felt."
Commenting on this - official despatch, the Daily Express" describes the communique as a "faithful reflection of the sentiments of the Members of Parliament."—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.