§ Mr. TICKLERasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether his attention has been called to the delay in issuing new season's jam prices; if so, what excuse can be offered, inasmuch as the importance of prompt action has been repeatedly impressed upon the Ministry, and if the delay is due to insufficiency of staff whether he will see that this will be remedied so that the duties of the Department may be properly carried out; and whether he is aware that manufacturers have their factories filled with jam, which, owing to the uncertainty as to prices, they cannot send out, a hardship upon small manufacturers, although the stocks of retailers are exhausted, and the public demand for jam cannot be satisfied?
§ Major ASTORI am fully alive to the importance of issuing as soon, as possible the prices of the new season jams, and to the fact that the manufacturers have considerable stocks on hand. These prices could not, however, be fixed until after the fruit prices had been fixed and the manufacturers and distributors of jam had been consulted. The jam prices will be issued in a day or two, and I do not think2016W that any serious hardship has been inflicted on the trade by the fact that they have not been issued already.