§ 27. Mrs. Middletonasked the President of the Board of Trade why the allowance of 7s. 6d. per ton of concentrated kitchen waste offered to local authorities for the period October, 1947, September, 1948, in the Board's Salvage Circular No. 130, is limited to those authorities producing less than 7,000 tons of such waste per year.
§ Mr. H. WilsonIn view of the increase, in production costs, and the continued stabilisation of the selling price of concentrated kitchen waste, the allowance of 7s. 6d. per ton will be made to those local authorities with concentrator plants of limited capacity to enable them to operate, on the average, on a reasonably economic basis. The plants with a larger output are still able to operate, on the average, at a good profit, so that in their case financial assistance from Government funds is not justified. The annual production referred to is a convenient and workable dividing line.
§ Mrs. MiddletonMay I ask the President of the Board of Trade whether it would not have been more advantageous to offer subsidies on a regulated scale for maximum production of kitchen waste, rather than to offer them for limited production, and so minimise the incentive of local authorities to collect salvage?
§ Mr. WilsonI do not think the incentive is minimised, and I am satisfied that those local authorities which can operate on a considerable scale find it well worth their while to do so.