HC Deb 24 February 1943 vol 387 cc164-5
56. Mr. Linstead

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is prepared to take steps to secure that in the constitution of the Committee of the Soft Drinks Industry (War-Time) Association, Limited, firms that have been closed under the concentration scheme shall be entitled to elect their own representatives to the committee and shall not have to be represented on it by firms who are continuing in business?

Mr. Mabane

In the explanatory introduction to paragraph 22 of the Scheme for the Temporary Concentration of the Soft Drinks Industry, it is stated that it is the intention of my Noble Friend that as from 1st June, 1943, the committee shall in- clued not less than two persons representing the interests of members who have wholly ceased to carry on business as manufacturers of soft drinks.

Mr. Linstead

Is it intended that they shall be elected by the firms which are to close?

Mr. Mabane

I cannot give that assurance at the moment because, as the scheme has not yet been brought forward, I am not able to say by what method they will be chosen, but I can give an assurance that the Minister will satisfy himself that the interests of the closed firms will be properly safeguarded.

Mr. Linstead

Can we understand from that reply that the Minister will satisfy himself that the representatives are acceptable to the closed firms?

Mr. Mabane

My hon. Friend should understand what I said. In these matters of election there are difficult questions of constituencies, how the vote should be taken and so on, but I think I can assure him that the representatives will be satisfactory to those concerned.

Sir William Davison

Will my hon. Friend bear in mind that there is not such food value in soft drinks as is possessed by beer?