Mr. Scottasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food why the urban district of Whitley and Monkseaton is excluded from the Third Schedule of the Rabbits (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941, and from the Schedule to the Poultry (Maximum Prices) Order, 1941, having regard to the fact that the neighbouring towns of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Gateshead, South Shields, Tynemouth, Jarrow and Wallsend are included; and whether he will consider removing this discrimination which has the effect of preventing the offer of rabbits and poultry to shopkeepers in the district by wholesalers and thus depriving the public of valuable food?
Major Lloyd GeorgeThe object of the differential prices for poultry and rabbits is to steer supplies into the larger industrial towns which have in the past suffered from a shortage. The inclusion in the Schedule of other urban districts such as Whitley and Monkseaton, which are adjacent to the towns in which the higher prices apply, would defeat the object in view. In these circumstances, the answer to the last part of the Question is in the negative.