HC Deb 05 August 1918 vol 109 c899
36. Mr. HAY MORGAN

asked the Food Controller whether he is aware that many retail distributors of sweets who were their own manufacturers before the Sale of Sweetmeats (Restriction) Order. 1918, came into operation are still manufacturing sweetmeats, but, being unable to retail them to their customers, are compelled to sell them to competitors in the trade; whether he is aware that the sweetmeats so manufactured are of a higher quality than those sold by the small shopkeepers, and that the public is inconvenienced without any compensating advantage to the small shopkeeper; and whether he will consider the advisability of so modifying the Order as to allow firms who manufacture sweetmeats to retail those sweetmeats on their own premises, and thus avoid the waste of time, labour, and money of transferring to another place?

Major ASTOR

The Sale of Sweetmeats (Restriction) Order, 1918, was made for the purpose of enabling those retailers of sweetmeats who wholly or mainly depend for their livelihood on this class of trade to obtain a larger proportion of the available supplies. One effect of the Order is to compel manufacturers who formerly sold sweatments by retail to dispose of their products at wholesale rates to other shopkeepers, and thus to increase the supplies of sweetmeats available for sale by those whom the Order was designed to benefit. The Food Controller can see no valid reason for amending the Order in the direction suggested.