§ 11. Mr. Eric Fletcherasked the Minister of Food why some egg retailers in Islington are able to give their registered customers only one egg a week and others six or more each week.
§ Mr. WebbI am very surprised to be told that there are retailers in Islington who have been unable recently to let their registered customers have more than one egg a week. If my hon. Friend will let me have the names and addresses of these retailers I will make inquiries.
§ Mr. FletcherMay I inform my right hon. Friend that I will certainly let him have the names of the retailers in question, and that I should be most grateful if he would look into the matter?
§ 20. Mr. Nabarroasked the Minister of Food why he will not allow newly laid eggs to be sold by producers direct to retail shops thus enabling the public to buy home-produced eggs before they are 48 hours old; and the average time taken under present arrangements for eggs to travel from producer to retail shop.
§ Mr. WebbThis proposal would lead to a very unfair distribution of eggs between the town and the country. Under the present arrangements consumers in the large towns get a fair share of home-produced eggs but if producers were allowed to sell direct to retail shops the towns would get a very poor share, and 978 I really cannot permit the urban population to be treated so unfairly. An investigation carried out last year showed that a fair average time between collection of eggs from a farm and their receipt at a retailer's shop would be seven to nine days. I have no reason to think that it takes any longer now.
§ Mr. NabarroHow can the Minister's reply be valid, when, before eggs were controlled, there were plentiful supplies of newly laid eggs for town and country alike? If the present arrangements involve nine days for distribution, whereas private enterprise could do it in three days, why is the Minister dooming the unfortunate consumer to hoary and antiquated eggs for ever?
§ Mr. WebbThe hon. Gentleman is mistaken, and is under a complete illusion. This is not a comparison with completely free enterprise in a market unrestricted in any way. Long ago, long before we had our present system of distributing eggs, there were all sorts of controls and arrangements, including guaranteed prices and egg marketing boards, to limit the freedom of the private competitor.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydDoes not the right hon. Gentleman's answer mean that, to prevent unfairness as between one section of the population and another, it is necessary that everybody should have more or less stale eggs?
§ Mr. DyeIs it not a fact that all the eggs that go to collecting centres are now tested and graded before they are distributed, whereas in the old days they had often got spots and other things in them and were sold direct?
§ Mr. WebbI can state quite emphatically that the general quality of eggs under our present methods of packing and collecting is immeasurably better than it was years before the war.
§ 21. Mr. Nabarroasked the Minister of Food the percentage decline in quantum of shell eggs passing through the packing stations in the United Kingdom during May, 1951, compared with May, 1950, and April, 1951, compared with April, 1950; why the quality and freshness of recent supplies has declined; and what steps are in hand to improve the position.
§ Mr. WebbThe quantities of shell eggs which passed through the packing stations in the United Kingdom in May, 1951, and April, 1951, were 8.8 per cent. and 7.4 per cent. respectively, less than the quantities in the same months of 1950. Neither the quality nor the freshness of eggs has declined, and if the hon. Member has evidence to support his suggestion I shall be glad if he will produce it.
§ Mr. NabarroIs it not a fact that this decline in shell egg production is the direct result of an inadequate price paid to the farmers, coupled with the fact that because of the shortage meat birds which should have been retained for egg production have been slaughtered for the table? Would not this muddle have been avoided if the Minister had left the trade in private hands?
§ Mr. WebbI do not agree that those allegations are true; but if they are true, they are a very grave reflection on our farming community.
§ Mr. DyeIs it not a fact that there are still more poultry in the country than before this slaughtering; and is it not the intention of my right hon. Friend to have more autumn and winter eggs when they are more needed by our population?
§ Mr. WebbWhat is called by the trade —not by the Ministry—the egg population of this country was, at the end of March, at the highest level in our history.
§ Mr. NabarroIf the arrangements the right hon. Gentleman refers to are so admirable, why is it necessary for him to continue rationing eggs this year when at this time last year they were on free, unrationed sale?
§ 22. Mr. Nabarroasked the Minister of Food whether the shell eggs delivered to the Borough Stores, High Street, Bewdley, Worcestershire, on 21st May, 1951, were fewer than nine days old.
§ Mr. WebbI understand that this retailer had no complaint about the quality of the eggs delivered to him on that day.
§ Mr. NabarroIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that his inspector called on this retailer and was shown a photograph of the condition of the eggs, which involved a nest of mice being found in one case; and does the Minister believe that 980 the period of gestation for a mouse is fewer than nine days?
§ Mr. WebbI am aware of the photograph. I am also aware that the photograph was arranged with the support and active organisation of the hon. Gentleman. I am also aware that it is just as easy for mice to get into egg boxes as it is for bees to get into bonnets and bats into belfries.
§ Mr. NabarroIs the right hon. Gentleman suggesting that this photograph was fraudulent, or that the information about the nest of mice is inaccurate; and, if so, would he say so?