64. Mr. De la Bèreasked the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster whether he is aware of the difficulty of the small consumers of feeding-stuffs for both poultry and cattle who have to purchase their supplies at less than two tons at a time; and whether he will take steps to ensure that the corn trade give an equitable allocation to these small consumers, and that the price charged is not excessive in relation to the charge which is made for supplying two-ton lots or more?
§ Mr. W. S. MorrisonThe Ministry of Food does not control the distribution of feeding-stuffs beyond the wholesale merchant and the provender miller, but arrangements have been made to allocate supplies of imported feeding-stuffs equitably amongst the processing firms and the wholesale merchants. Under the Feeding-Stuffs (Maximum Prices) Order all merchants are entitled to charge the usual additional price margins for the 1225 sale of small lots and there is no reason to doubt that they will deal fairly with their smaller customers. If my hon. Friend has any particular case in mind and will communicate with me I will have it investigated.
Mr. De la BèreDoes my right hon. Friend realise that when he was Minister of Agriculture, day in and day out, I drew his attention to what would happen; and why is there no vision or common sense at all? The whole matter is thoroughly unsatisfactory.