§ 25 and 26. Mr. Wootton-Daviesasked the President of the Board of Trade (1) whether, in fixing datum periods for trades selected for curtailment of output, he will take into consideration the unfairness of choosing a wartime period in which the manufacturer may have met with exceptional difficulties, such as shortage of packages; and whether, where possible, he will select datum periods prior to the outbreak of war;
(2) whether he will fix a definite datum period governing wartime output, applicable to all manufacturers, since the variations now existing are confusing and the reasons for them not understood?
§ Mr. DaltonNo, Sir. I have no reason to suppose that the adoption of a uniform pre-war period, as suggested by my hon. Friend, would prove fairer to manufac- 1157 turers as a whole than the present arrangements. But, apart from this, recalculation of standard period figures at this stage of the war would impose a heavy burden on traders and their hard-pressed staffs, which I could not justify.
§ Mr. Wootton-DaviesDoes not my right hon. Friend think that this proposal would simplify matters very much? Are we not liable to get an unbalanced view by having various datum periods?
§ Mr. DaltonNo, I do not think it would simplify matters, and I have not received any representations from any body of traders in favour of the hon. Member's proposal. Most of the periods run from 1st June, 1939, and terminate either six months or 12 months thereafter, and I think that is well understood. If they had to recalculate, many traders would have a great deal of work which they are not in a position to do at the moment; also, some of the records have been lost, unfortunately, through enemy action.