HC Deb 13 July 1933 vol 280 cc1381-2

The principal Act shall have effect as if Section five thereof were extended so as to enable any scheme under that Act to provide—

  1. (a) for empowering the board to receive the whole or any part of any sums payable by purchasers of the regulated product in respect of sales of that product by registered producers; and
  2. (b) for securing that any sums so received are distributed by the board to the sellers in such manner as may be specified in the scheme or prescribed by the board.

Major ELLIOT

I beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."

This Amendment is to deal with circumstances which have arisen on the milk scheme, which is now under consideration, and may arise upon other schemes in future, for which there is no statutory provision, since under the Act a scheme may empower the board to determine the terms of a contract under which a regulated product may be sold by registered producers. One of the terms may be that the purchase price shall be paid by the purchaser to the board. In such a case the board does not buy the regulated product from the registered producer, nor does it sell it to the purchaser. All the board does is to receive from the purchaser the price payable by him under the contract for what he has bought from the registered producer, and thus the board accumulates a fund, for the distribution of which it is necessary to make provision in the scheme.

It may be desired that the scheme shall provide for a registered producer's share in the fund in respect of the regulated products sold by him should be either more or less according to the circumstances of the contract price at which he sold. In the milk scheme it is contemplated that the registered producer sells milk for consumption as liquid milk, the contract price for which is generally higher than the contract price of milk sold for manufacture. In certain circumstances it may be less than the contract price paid to the registered producer who sells milk for manufacture, and the board is then able to level up the price. The Clause enables the board to receive sums payable by the purchaser under contract, and empowers the board to determine the manner in which the money so received shall be distributed by the board among the sellers. It is to enable the procedure recommended by the Committee that this Amendment has been inserted in another place.

Sir JOSEPH LAMB

Can the Minister say whether the board have all the necessary rights?

Major ELLIOT

I understand that they will have all the necessary rights under the new Clause.

Question, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment," put, and agreed to.

Subsequent Lords Amendment: in page 13, line 34, agreed to.