§ Mr. RATCLIFFEasked the Food Controller if beef which costs the Board of Trade f.o.b. an average of 4¾d per lb. in Australia cannot be handed to the retailer in this country at less than is. per lb.; and if beef which costs the Board of Trade f.o.b. an average of 4⅞d. per lb. in New Zealand cannot be handed to the retailer in this country at less than ls. per lb., thus doing injustice to the British consumer?
Mr. ROBERTSThe price paid for beef in Australia or New Zealand by the Board of Trade does not give a fair indication of the cost of the meat by the time it arrives in this country, since transport and storage charges have to be allowed for. The price at which the beef is disposed of to the retailer is fixed by the Ministry of Food, and I am now considering the possibility of its reduction. I may, however, point out that the quantity of Australian and New Zealand beef now available for civilian consumption is very small.
§ Mr. RATCLIFFEasked the Food Controller, seeing that he now allows the consumer to go where he likes to buy his meat where any English meat may be on 1260W sale, if he is prepared to give the retailer the right to buy what he likes and from whom he likes, and also to refuse to take any meat that may not be suitable for his trade; and, if not, why this differential treatment as between retailer and consumer?
Mr. ROBERTSRetailers of meat are already free to buy such quantities of imported meat as they may desire from any sources which they may select. It is not possible to extend this concession to home-grown meat so long as the Ministry of Food is responsible for obtaining supplies from the British farmer and for regulating distribution.