§ 37. Mr. J. Griffithsasked the President of the Board of Trade whether he is aware that the prices of household crockery and china are in some cases five times the prewar price; and what steps he is taking to control the price of these articles?
§ Mr. DaltonI made an Order on 1st June prohibiting any further increase in manufacturers' prices and limiting distributors' margins for all domestic pottery sold in the home market. Under the same Order I also fixed maximum prices for essential articles of plain earthenware, to which production for the home market is now largely confined. These prices are below those generally ruling before the Order was made and much below the extreme cases mentioned by my hon. Friend. I rely on members of the public to report any cases of excessive prices to the local price regulation committees for investigation.