HC Deb 08 July 1942 vol 381 cc779-80W
Mr. Mainwaring

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, upon whose advice was a rate of 1s. per chip of 12 lbs. of cherries recently fixed by the Ministry of Food as a proper rate of remuneration for agents acting between producers and wholesalers?

Mr. Mabane

The rate to which my hon. Friend refers was decided upon after consultation with the trade bodies primarily concerned.

Mr. Mainwaring

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, what services are normally performed by agents acting in fruit-producing areas and between producers and wholesalers; and what is the normal rate of remuneration received by agents in the fruit-producing areas acting between producers and wholesalers?

Mr. Mabane

Agents in production areas provide services to growers by securing containers and arranging for collection and consignment. If the agent is acting for a market principal, he provides him with fruit, or if he acts for a grower, he provides a market. There are also manufacturers' agents. Normally, rates of remuneration vary widely. They may range from one to 10 per cent. according to the services provided and the circumstances. The lowest rates apply to manufacturers' agents.

Mr. De la Bère

asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he will make a statement regarding the Government plans for the sale of plums and apples by the producers and allow the producers to sell to the public, where necessary, direct?

Mr. Mabane

Maximum price orders will be made for both plums and apples and will prescribe maximum prices on the occasion of a sale by a grower, by wholesale and by retail. A substantial proportion of the plum crop will, however, be made available for jam manufacturers and for the pulp and canning industries, and the Order will fix the prices to be paid by these manufacturing users. Encouragement will be given, by means of an additional price, to growers who store their apples either in cold or gas storage. There will be a restriction on the movement of both plums and apples by road and by rail in order to secure the maximum transport economy, consistent with the full utilisation of the crops. A producer of not more than one acre of plums or one acre of apples who obtains a retail licence from the local Food Control Committee will be allowed to sell to the public at the maximum retail price. A grower with cultivations exceeding one acre, who sold as a grower-salesman in previous years, will be entitled to apply for a special licence enabling him to sell to the retail trade or to the public the same proportion of the crop as he was accustomed to dispose of in these ways.