§ 57. Mr. Gammansasked the Minister of Food on what grounds the official announcement was issued by his Department that the quantity of food at present being consumed is only 7 per cent. less than before the war.
§ Mr. StracheyThe calorie value of the average civilian diet is currently estimated at 2,800 to 2,850 per head per day, that is, 7 to 5 per cent. less than the prewar average of 3,010 calories per head per day. This does not mean that each individual is eating 7 per cent. less than prewar; some are eating considerably less, others are eating 1222 considerably more than they were able to buy before the war. Rationing and price control have brought the worst fed and best fed groups nearer to the national average.
§ Mr. GammansDoes the Minister realise that this statement of his, which no housewife in any rank of society will accept——
§ Mr. GallacherWas the hon. Gentleman a member of a P.A.C.?
§ Mr. GammansDoes the Minister realise that this statement made Americans believe, when the right hon. Gentleman went to the other side of the Atlantic, that there was no real food shortage in this country?
§ Mr. StracheyThat was not my experience on the other side of the Atlantic. It may be true, of course, that the 30 per cent. of the housewives, who, before the war, according to the report of the hon. Gentleman the Member for the Scottish Universities (Sir J. Boyd Orr), could spend less than 6s. per head per week on food, may now find it difficult to believe that anyone is eating any less food in this country at all. That I can believe.