HC Deb 18 January 1944 vol 396 cc6-7
8 and 9. Mr. Quintin Hogg

asked the President of the Board of Trade (1) whether he has now investigated the complaints brought against a certain laundry, of which he has been informed, by 327 Oxford residents compulsorily assigned to this firm under the zoning scheme; and what steps have been taken to remedy the deficiencies in the service offered by this laundry;

(2) what steps he proposes to take to compensate customers of a certain laundry, of which he has been informed, to which they were compulsorily assigned under the zoning scheme, either by way of replacement or cash and coupons for the seven or eight per cent. loss of garments they sustained during the operation of the scheme.

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

The Oxford laundry zoning scheme has recently been modified. The laundry to which the Questions refer is now concentrating on work for the Forces. I regret that I cannot make special arrangements for replacement, whether by cash or coupons, of articles unfortunately lost in this particular case.

Mr. Hogg

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the laundry in question managed to lose between 7 and 8 per cent. of its total wash every week, and is he also aware that the laundry was compulsorily allocated to its customers? Does he not think himself responsible, therefore, for the loss?

Sir Herbert Williams

Is this another lost cause for Oxford?

Mr. Hogg

Lost drawers.

Mr. Dalton

I regret very much the lost drawers, but I cannot regard myself as being personally responsible for one of these minor mishaps in a great war.

10. Mr. Hogg

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether the present scale of compensation for laundry losses can be increased in order to prevent it continuing to operate as an inducement to the theft and black-market sale of customers' garments.

Mr. Dalton

I do not think that my hon. Friend's proposal would achieve the object which he has in mind. Raising the present scale of compensation would not diminish theft or black-market sales where, as in the great majority of cases, laundry losses are not attributable to laundry proprietors, but to other ill-disposed persons.

Mr. Hogg

In view of the unsatisfactory position disclosed by the answers to the last three Questions, I beg to give notice that I shall raise the matter on the Adjournment.