§ 7. Mr. Jannerasked the Minister of Food what further steps he proposes to take to prevent a black market in eggs, in view of the fact that housewives who can only deal in shops receive on an average only two eggs a week.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeMy enforcement officers are doing all they can to bring home to egg producers their public duties under the law.
§ Mr. JannerYes, but is the Minister aware that traders are getting cases of eggs and paying £10 a case more than the controlled price? Is he aware that there are some three million more laying hens this year than last year, and is he going to put a stop to the great black market that is going on?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI think the hon. Gentleman will agree that this is one of the most difficult problems of all. I would remind him that about one-fifth of the egg producers of this country are people owning 25 hens or less, and they can sell freely without restriction— [Interruption.] I am pointing out the difficulty. About 45 per cent. of the eggs go to the packing stations. I am not suggesting that this scheme is perfect, but when I tell the hon. Gentleman that the number of egg producers—I do not mean the hens; I am talking about the owners —are about 350,000, he will realise that this is a problem.
§ Mr. BaldwinIs my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that the way to do away with this black market is to allow a free market? Only then will the consumers in this country know the real value of the eggs.
§ Lieut-Colonel LiptonIs the Minister aware that in many parts of the country egg retailers are selling their own registered customers as many eggs as they want, and that there seems to be something radically wrong with the distribution of the eggs legally on the market?
28. Miss Bartonasked the Minister of Food whether he is aware that home-produced eggs increased by 450 million last year, but that none of these reached the public through his Department's grading scheme; and, as millions of eggs are disappearing before they reach the official stock records, what further action he proposes to take to break this black market.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeMy information is that several hundred million fewer eggs were produced at home last year than in 1950. As regards the last part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I have just given to the hon. Member for Leicester, North-West (Mr. Janner).
§ Miss BurtonIs the Minister aware that the number of hens in this country last year increased by three million, and that the estimated minimum number of eggs which they produced was 450 million? May I also ask him whether, in the answer to the Question to which he has referred, he himself said that 55 per cent. of the eggs produced in this country did not reach the scheme, and would he do something about the matter?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI think the hon. Lady has gone a little bit wrong in her arithmetic. I mentioned that those who had 25 hens or less were free to sell what they liked. When the hon. Lady states that the number of home-produced eggs increased by 450 million, I must tell her that, in fact, they decreased by 720 million.
§ Mr. FollickAs there is definitely a great shortage of eggs in this country, is not the Minister aware that very large quantities of eggs and meat are going from Eire to Spain, and could he not make it attractive for that meat and those eggs to come to this country, instead of going to Spain?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI think the hon. Gentleman is mistaken. They are going to Italy, not Spain, and not a great number, either. I am bound to say that, so far as Eire is concerned, we have a very good arrangement with them and that they stick to it religiously, and it has operated very well.
§ Mr. NabarroIs my right hon. and gallant Friend aware that, in the very order of things, eggs are a volatile 758 product, and that, until he sets the British hens free and gets rid of the system of nationalisation, the consumer will never get any eggs?