§ Mr. John FraserI beg to move, Amendment No. 48, in page 21, line 8, at end insert
'and that no part of a penny except one halfpenny is specified in the amount of an indicated price or charge'.The amendment relates not to price control but to price display. It provides that we can make an order which would prevent price display except in units of the currency—that is ½p, 1p, £1 and so on. It arises from the practice of petrol filling stations advertising and displaying the prices of petrol in figures such as 82.6p or 92.9p per gallon. It becomes even more difficult when it is advertised at the pumps and is available only in complete gallons. It is quite difficult to complete a transaction involving two complete gallons at 82.9p, or a like figure.Although this problem applies only to petrol filling stations, this is a practice that could spread. It has excited a great deal of consumer complaint. I am not saying that we should act across the board, and of course, we could act only by an order that had the approval of the House. However, now that this practice is developing, it would be wise to have reserve powers to deal with price display in decimal points.
§ Amendment agreed to.