2. Mr. De le Bèreasked the Minister of Food whether he will consider a further reduction of the price of cocoa beans sold by the Government to the chocolate manufacturers, so as to render unnecessary an increased price being charged to the public, in view of the existing low cost of production and the substantial margin of profit being taken by the Government in the price fixed to the manufacturers.
§ Mr. StracheyNo, Sir, it is surely too soon to consider a further reduction in price, as the present reductions only came into effect on 5th December. The new price is as low as we can reasonably make it at present without running the risk of loss; and retail prices will be going down, not up.
Mr. De la BèreIs it not a very arbitary way of exploiting the consuming public without showing what is really happening? Is not this a monopoly over which there is no public control? No one knows what takes; no one knows whether there is an addition or a subtraction, or what the position is. Could not some facts be given to the public?
§ Mr. StracheyThere is complete public control over these transactions. They are on public account. I can tell the hon. Member in a word the principle on which they are conducted. They are conducted on the principle that over a period there should be neither a profit nor a loss.
§ Mr. A. Edward DaviesIs it not a fact that a substantial margin of profit is being taken and retained by the Government, but is it not also in accordance with the fact that the money is ultimately going back to the producers in the Colonial territories?
§ Mr. StracheyI think my hon. Friend is referring to the fact that there is a stabilisation fund or something of that sort operating in West Africa, but that is not done by the British Government.