§ 30. Mr. LOUGHasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he has noticed that certain whole sale distributors of tea are selling under the price fixed by the Tea Distribution Order and that certain other firms propose to reduce the retail price from 2s. 8d. to 2s. 6d. per lb., the latter being the cost price fixed in the orders to other distributors, arranging no doubt to make up the absence of profit or loss incurred by the more profitable sale of other commodities; whether the Ministry sanction such variations from their Orders; and whether they will continue allotments to firms who adopt them?
§ Mr. CLYNESThe wholesale and retail prices named in the Food Controller's Orders and Directions are maximum prices, and to sell at prices lower than the maximum does not require the sanction of the Ministry of Food. The retail sale of tea of large houses at 2s. 6d. a lb. bears hardly on the small trader, and I am considering whether any action is necessary or desirable.