§ 23. Mr. F. Willeyasked the Minister of Food whether he is yet able to say if eggs will be sold off ration this year.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI cannot yet say.
§ Mr. C. N. Thornton-KemsleyCan my right hon. and gallant Friend say how it is that this afternoon an itinerant street trader was offering a whole barrowload of eggs in Oxford Street marked "Suitable, for cooking and frying"?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeThey were probably marked "H."
§ 26. Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Minister of Food whether he is aware that grade 1 eggs purchased by packing stations at 3s. 7d. a dozen are sold by retailers at the rate of 5s. a dozen; and who gets the difference.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeYes, Sir, but smaller eggs are sold at various prices down to 3s. a dozen. Over the whole range the difference is less than the cost of collecting, packing and distributing home-produced eggs.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonIs the right hon. and gallant Gentleman aware that he is at one and the same time overcharging the public and under-paying the egg producers? Will he, perhaps, ask the Lord President of the Council to do a spot of co-ordination in this regard, too?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeI think that the hon. and gallant Gentleman will feel happier to find that the price over the year is an average price; and the average difference between the price that the producer gets and the consumer pays is not enough to pay for packaging and distribution.
§ 29. Mrs. Mannasked the Minister of Food the position regarding supply of eggs this year, and bonus issues of sugar for jam.
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeIn the first 12 weeks of the year there were 29 allocations of eggs, on average, compared with 27½ during the corresponding period last year. As to future supplies, I cannot add to my reply to the hon. Member on 25th February last. With regard to bonus issues of sugar for jam, I would refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave today to the hon. Member for Dartford (Mr. Dodds).
§ Mrs. MannCan the right hon. and gallant Gentleman say whether we are now to get the same number of eggs as we have had over the last five years—two years ago, for example, they were off the ration altogether—or have the hens gone broody under a Tory Government? Is the Minister also aware that his reply about the bonus issues of sugar for jam is so disgracefully inadequate that the Housewives' League will rise up out of its, grave?
§ Mr. C. W. GibsonIs the Minister satisfied that he is getting all the eggs that he ought to get at the collecting stations from the poulterers?
§ Major Lloyd GeorgeIf the hens have gone broody, I can only say they went much more broody last year, because supplies this year are slightly better than they were under the late Government. It is impossible to say what the future position will be.