Small Retailers (Clothing, Pottery and Hollow-ware)

HC Deb 15 December 1942 vol 385 cc1729-38

2. Mr. De la Bère

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is now in a position to make a further statement regarding retail trade?

The President of (he Board of Trade (Mr. Dalton)

Yes, Sir. Following the statement which I made in the House on 13th October, I appointed three committees to prepare plans for the fair distribution of clothing, pottery and hollow-ware to small retail shopkeepers. These committees have now reported, and I have approved their proposals, which will come into operation on 1st January next. Speaking generally, all three plans provide that small retailers of the goods in question shall receive, as a minimum, a definite percentage, in terms of value, of the goods they bought from each of their suppliers in a standard year. For the clothing scheme, a small retailer is defined as one whose total turnover was not more than £5,000 in the standard year, which is 1939. For pottery and hollow-ware, the maximum turnover figures are £3,000 and £2,500 respectively, and the standard years, 1st December, 1940, to 30th November, 1941, for pottery, and 1st June, 1939, to 31st May, 1940, for hollow-ware.

I will circulate in the OFFICIAL REPORT a list of the percentages, which differ for each of the three classes of goods and also for different areas owing to recent movements of population and other factors. The committees will remain in being to supervise the working of the schemes and recommend any changes which they consider necessary in the light of experience. I hope that it will not be necessary to apply legal compulsion. I prefer to rely on the good will and common sense of the traders concerned, who will, I am confident, co-operate with the committees to make the schemes successful. If, however, the committees report to me that anyone is deliberately, and without reasonable excuse, refusing to give his small customers their fair share under the scheme, I shall investigate the case, and, if necessary, issue Directions.

Mr. De la Bère

While thanking my right hon. Friend for what he has said and appreciating his endeavour, might I ask whether he can recall what he said on 13th October about a conference with the Minister of Labour on the call-up of small traders, because that seems a very important point? If the small trader is to go on distributing goods in the rural areas, he must be there to do it.

Mr. Dalton

Yes, Sir; I am in touch with my right hon. Friend, and I think he intends to make a statement.

Mr. Rhys Davies

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that this is not exclusively a problem of supplies, but of the fact that shopkeepers and their assistants are being called up?

Mr. Dalton

That is quite true. Of course, the distributive trades have to make their due contribution of man and woman-power to fight the war.

Mr. Davies

Is the right hon. Gentleman aware that the distributive trades always make the greatest contribution of all?

Sir Joseph Lamb

Can my right hon. Friend say when the Minister of Labour will be able to make his statement?

I.—CLOTHING.
To decide whether a retailer should receive the percentage shown in column (A) or (B) suppliers should, where they are in doubt, refer to the pre-war population figures which are available in many standard publications, unless otherwise instructed by the Board of Trade.
County.	A. Towns under 10,000 and Rural Districts.	B. Towns over 10,000.	Special Cases.
				Per cent.
AREA (1):
Scotland	80	80	Edinburgh	66⅔
			Glasgow	75
AREA (2):
Cumberland	100	100	Newcastle	66⅔
Westmorland	Gateshcad	75
			Sunderland
Northumberland	80	80
Durham
AREA (3):
Yorkshire	80	75	Hull	50
Lancashire	Middlesbrough	66⅔
Cheshire	Blackpool	80
Staffordshire	Manchester	66⅔
Derby	Salford
Leicester	Liverpool
Nottingham	Birkenhead
Lincoln	Wallasey
AREA (4):
Norfolk (except Coastal Strip)	100	100	Norwich	66⅔
Suffolk (except Coastal Strip) and North West Essex	Yarmouth	50
Huntingdon	Ipswich	66⅔
Coastal Strip of Norfolk, Suffolk and Essex	66⅔	66⅔
AREA (5):
Bedford	100	100
Hertford	Luton	80
Buckingham
Berkshire
Oxford	Reading	80
Gloucester	Oxford	80
Herefordshire	Bristol	66⅔
Northampton/Rutland	100	80
Cambridge
Shropshire	Birmingham	66⅔
Worcester	Coventry	75
Warwick

Sir Patrick Harmon

Will the directions issued by my right hon. Friend have the force of law?

Mr. Dalton

If necessary, I am quite prepared to issue directions having the force of law, but I hope it will be possible to make the scheme work without that. If my hon. Friend the Member for Stone (Sir J. Lamb) is referring to the statement by my right hon. Friend on the question of call-up, I think that question had better be addressed to my right hon. Friend.

Following is the list of Board of Trade Area Percentages for Clothing, Pottery, and Hollow-ware:

County.	A. Towns under 10,000 and Rural Districts.	B. Town s over 10,000.	Special Cases.
				Per cent.
AREA (6):
Hampshire	100	80	Portsmouth	50
			Southampton	50
			Bournemouth	75
			Isle of Wight	75
Wiltshire	100	100	Swindon	80
Dorset	Weymouth	66⅔
Somerset	Poole	75
			Bath	80
Devonshire	100	80	Plymouth	50
Cornwall
AREA (7):
Wales	100	100	Cardiff	75
			Swansea
			Towns over 10,000 in Monmouth and Glamorgan	80
AREA (8):
Middlesex (except London Postal District) Essex (all parts except London Postal District, North West Rural Districts, Coastal Strip and Listed Towns)	80	80	Southend	50
Clacton
Frinton
Harwich
Sussex (all parts except Coastal Strip)	Bexhill	50
			Hastings
			Eastbourne
Coastal Strip Essex, and Sussex	66⅔	66⅔
Surrey (except London Postal District)	80	75	Croydon	66⅔
Kent (except London Postal District and Coastal Strip)
Thames Estuary Towns and Canterbury	66⅔	66⅔
Coastal Strip Kent	50	50
AREA (9):
London Postal District	50	50	The following postal districts:
			E.: 4, 11, 12, 18	66⅔
			N.: 2, 3, 9, 10,11,12, 13, 14, 18, 20, 21, 22
			N.W.: 2, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11
			S.E.: 2, 9, 11, 12, 18, 20, 25
			S.W.: 14, 19, 20
			W.: 3, 4, 5, 7, 13
AREA (10):
Northern Ireland	100	100	Belfast	75
			Londonderry	80

II.—POTTERY.
County.	A. Towns under 10,000 and Rural Districts	B. Towns over 10,000.	Special Cases.
AREA (1):				Per cent.
Scotland	120	100	Glasgow	90
			Edinburgh	80
AREA (2):
Cumberland	120	100	Carlisle	90
Westmorland
Furness District—Lanes.	Barrow	90
Northumberland	120	90	Newcastle	80
Durham
Yorkshire	Middlesbrough	180
			Bradford
			Huddersfield
			Leeds.
			Sheffield
			Hull
AREA (3):
Nottingham	100	90	Nottingham	80
Leicester	Leicester	80
Derby	Derby	80
AREA (4):
Lincoln	120	90
Cambridge
Huntingdon
Northampton and Rutland
Bedford
Hertford
Buckingham
Oxford
AREA (5):
Norfolk	120	90	Norwich	80
Suffolk
Essex	excluding London Postal Districts
Coastal and Estuary towns all	80
Kent
Sussex
Surrey (excluding London Postal Districts)	100	80
Middlesex (excluding London Postal Districts).	100	80
AREA (6):
London Postal Districts	80	80	Dock Area, that is Postal Districts E.I, 3, 13, 14, 16, S.E.I, 8, 14, 16.	90
AREA (7):
Hampshire	120	90	Portsmouth	80
		Southampton	80
Berkshire
Wiltshire
Devon	Plymouth	80
Somerset	Bath	80
Gloucester	Bristol	80
Hereford
Dorset
Cornwall
Isle of Wight	90	90
AREA (8):
Wales and Monmouth	120	100	Cardiff	90
		Swansea	90
AREA (9):
Lancashire	100	80
Warwick
Worcester
Cheshire
Staffordshire	90	80
Shropshire	100	90
AREA (10):
Northern Ireland	120	100	Belfast	90

III.—HOLLOW-WARE.
County.	A. Towns under 10,000 and Rural Districts.	B. Towns over 10,000.	Exceptions.
				Per cent.
AREA (1):
Scotland	50	50
AREA (2):
Cumberland	60	60	Carlisle	50
Westmorland
Northumberland	50	50
Durham
Yorkshire
Derby
Nottingham
Leicester
Lincoln
AREA (3):
Northampton/Rutland	60	50
Cambridge/Ely
Bedford
Huntingdon
Hertford
Bucks
Oxford
Berks
AREA (4):
Norfolk	60	50	10 mile coast strip from Sheringham to Southend inclusive.	40
Suffolk
Essex (except London Postal Districts)	50	50
AREA (5):
London Postal Districts	40	40
AREA (6):
Kent (except London Postal Districts) Sussex	50	50	10 mile coast strip—	40
Surrey (except London Postal Districts) Middlesex (ditto)	Whitstable to Newhaven.	40
			Canterbury	40
			Croydon	40
AREA (7):
Hants	50	50	Portsmouth	40
Isle of Wight	Gosport
Dorset	Southampton
AREA (8):
Devon	60	50	Plymouth	40
Cornwall
Somerset
Wiltshire
Gloucester
Shropshire
Hereford
AREA (9):
Worcester	50	50
Warwick
Stafford
Cheshire
Lancashire	Manchester	40
			Salford
			Liverpool
			Birkenhead
			Wallasey
AREA (10):
Monmouth	60	60	Cardiff	50
Glamorgan	Swansea	50
AREA (11):
Rest of Wales	60	50
AREA (12):
Northern Ireland	60	60	Belfast	50