§ 29. Major NEWMANasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that the price allowed to be charged by milk suppliers at the present time is 1s. 2½d. per imperial gallon, and that the question as to price to be charged by the wholesale dairy trader to the retail dairy trader and by him to the consumer has not at present been fixed by the Food Controller, and that in consequence the wholesale traders have come to a decision that they can at present only sell milk on what is known as an accommodation price, which has been fixed as from 1st April at Is. 7d. a gallon; and, seeing that milk sold -at such a price gives the retail trader no option but to advance the price of milk immediately to the consumer, will he take steps to prevent a rise in price to the consumer at a time when, with the growth of grass, a fall and not a rise should take place in the cost of milk?
Captain BATHURSTMy hon. Friend is mistaken in supposing that the price to be charged for milk by the wholesaler to 2208 the retail trader and by the latter to the consumer is not regulated. I am sending him copies of the Orders made by the Food Controller on 28th January and 20th February which now govern this subject. Their general effect is that the price to the consumer cannot exceed the pre-war price by more than 2d. a quart, and the price to the retail trader cannot exceed the prewar price by more than 6½d. per gallon. The action of wholesaler traders in charging their regular customers an "accommodation price" for milk supplied in the ordinary way is a breach of the Orders which will not be allowed to continue.
§ Major NEWMANCan my hon. Friend say there will be no increase in the price to the consumer in the immediate future?
Captain BATHURSTNo; I can make no such rash prophecy. It is quite impossible at present to say what the raw materials of milk production will cost, and it is most essential to provide sufficient inducement to farmers to maintain the production of milk rather than send their milch cows to the butcher.