§ 82. Mr. Tiffanyasked the President of the Board of Trade if his attention has been called to the high cost of footwear repairs; and whether he will bring to an end, at an early date, the present arrangements for the licensing of footwear repairers, in order to avoid monopoly conditions and thus lower the present charges.
§ Sir S. CrippsThe maximum charges for footwear repairs are less than 40 per cent. above the level of charges in August, 1939. The recent increase of approximately 3 per cent. was allowed after the Central Price Regulation Committee had investigated the effect of increases in the costs of labour and material. I regret that I cannot abandon the licensing of footwear repairers until leather supplies improve, nor would such a course lead to a reduction in price. On the contrary, it would almost certainly lead to an increase.