§ 51. Sir Herbert Williamsasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he can furnish an estimate of the number of persons engaged in local food offices whose chief occupation is that of dealing with the registration of consumers at particular shops; and what is the approximate annual cost of this part of the work of rationing?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe volume of work relating to the registration of consumers depends mainly on the number of temporary and permanent removals and 567 therefore varies widely from area to area. We should need a very large staff to make an estimate of the number of staff engaged on this work.
§ 52. Sir H. Williamsasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food why he requires shopkeepers to count, and his staff to check, 100,000,000 coupons per week in respect of the rationing of bacon and butter, so long as the permitted ration is in excess of the normal consumption of a large proportion of the people?
§ Mr. Lennox-BoydThe counting of coupons by shopkeepers is optional, but it is of material assistance to food control committees if the numbers of coupons forwarded to them are indicated on the packets. I cannot accept the implication that the circumstances mentioned in the last part of the Question would justify a general relaxation of control.