§ 32. Sir J. D. REESasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware of the protest made by the East Midlands Wine and Spirit Trade Association against the Spirit (Prices and Description) Order, which unduly prejudices wholesale merchants who sell locally whiskies of high quality in 1862 bottle and also in bulk, which, while it compels such merchants to sell at certain prices, does not compel distillers and blenders to sell to them at net prices; whether he is aware that the effect of the Order, as operating at present, is to make it difficult, if not impossible, for wine merchants to continue to sell whisky, that the gross profit of 15 per cent. is inadequate to meet the increased charges of carrying on business in war-time, that the provision of only one price for selling bulk whisky is ruinous to merchants who supply high-class brands to good hotels, clubs, etc., and that the Order involves other injustices and inequalities to the detriment of wholesale wine and spirit merchants which have been explained in representations formally made by their East Midlands Association to the Food Controller; and whether he will say what redress has been, or will be, granted in consequence of such representations?
§ Mr. PARKER (Lord of the Treasury)The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The Spirits (Prices and Description) Order compels all sellers, by wholesale, of spirits in bulk to sell at the net price fixed by the Order, when the purchaser is buying for resale to a licensed trade. The figure of 15 per cent. is the minimum discount allowed to the purchaser, and does not represent his gross profit, because a person buying in bond at 20s. proof, less 15 per cent., is permitted to sell wholesale to licensed victuallers at a net price of 37s. 6d., 32 under proof, duty paid, thus gaining a gross profit of 8s. 2d. per proof gallon. The price basis of the Order is adequate even for the best quality bulk whisky, and the true position is probably that too high a price is permitted for inferior qualities.
The necessity for the Order arose from the extravagent lever to which the trade has caused or permitted prices to be driven, and in fixing maximum prices it is obviously very difficult to make much, if any, provision for second-hand, third-hand, and fourth-hand wholesalers, but Amendments to the Order are under consideration, and provision will, as far as possible, be made for intermediate traders.