§ VISCOUNT ULLSWATERasked the representative of the Ministry of Labour whether the cost of living index issued on 1st October reflects the heavy fall in the price of sheep of 50 per cent. since 1931; of lambs 50 per cent., store cattle 35 per cent., pork pigs 50 per cent., and potatoes more than 50 per cent.; and, if it does not do so, what is the reason of its failure to react to the general fall in the value of foodstuffs.
818WA
§ THE PAYMASTER-GENERAL (LORD ROCHESTER)The percentage reductions in the retail prices of beef, mutton and potatoes since October, 1931, as shown by the cost of living index compiled by the Ministry of Labour, have been as follows:—Mutton (British): legs, 13 per cent.; breast, 15 per cent. Beef (British): ribs, 5 per cent.; thin flank, 7 per cent. Potatoes, 23 per cent. Pork is not included within the scope of the cost of living index. These percentage reductions in retail prices are substantially less than those in market prices as recorded by the Ministry of Agriculture. Retail prices, however, include charges in respect of costs of transport, handling and distribution, and do not, as a rule, fluctuate in the same ratio as the prices received by the farmer.
House adjourned at a quarter before five o'clock.