29. Mrs. Adamsonasked the President of the Board of Trade whether, in view of the high and increasing prices being charged for second-hand furniture, often of poor quality, and the possibility that the situation will get worse since the production of new non-utility furniture is now prohibited, he will consider taking steps to bring second-hand furniture prices under effective control?
§ Mr. DaltonYes, Sir. The Central Price Regulation Committee, who advise me on these matters, have recently made proposals to me for tightening up the present arrangements for controlling prices of second-hand furniture.
§ Mr. DaltonYes, but the difficulty is to get an Order which is both fair and enforceable. We have an Order on the matter which lays it down that a dealer in furniture may add 5o per cent. to the buying price and may sell it at that figure, provided that the figure does not exceed the first-hand price. The difficulty is to determine what the first-hand price was. We are looking at the matter to see whether we can get some new control which will be effectively enforceable.