§ 11. Mr. Kaufmanasked the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if he will introduce legislation to make illegal the trading practices of the kind detailed in the communication to him dated 11th November from the hon. Member for Manchester, Ardwick.
§ Sir J. EdenNo, Sir. In such instances of "chain letter" selling methods as I have seen, the nature of the scheme was adequately explained. I see no reason why people should not be left to decide for themselves whether to participate.
§ Mr. KaufmanIs the Minister aware, that, despite the inquiry of a few years ago, the practice of the firm Bezelplan Ltd., of conning unsuspecting customers out of their money without necessarily giving them any goods in return, is continuing? Should he not look at the 9 matter again with a view to a further inquiry and trying to stop people losing money to this firm?
§ Sir J. EdenI am ready to have a look at it again, but so far we have had only six complaints about three schemes of this kind, and we must leave the vast majority of people to use their commonsense.
§ Mr. KaufmanIn view of the totally unsatisfactory nature of the reply, I beg to give notice that I shall raise this matter on the Adjournment at the earliest possible opportunity.