§ 53. Captain Pluggeasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether, in view of the advertisements published by his Department calling attention to the value of fresh salted cod, he is aware that numbers of shopkeepers will not sell this on the ground that it does not yield sufficient profit; and whether he can state the profit to fishmongers?
The Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food (Major Lloyd George)The Answer to the first part of the Question is in the negative. The maximum price to a retailer for wet salted cod is 8s. 6d. per stone of 14lbs. The maximum retail price is 9d. per 1b. or 10s. 6d. per 1905 stone, but as the advertisements in the trade Press point out, the de-salting process applied by the retailer increases the weight by from 20 to 35 per cent.