§ Mr. Douglasasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he is aware of the unpatriotic action of a few people who manage by devious means to get more than a fair share of food and other commodities which are in short supply; and what action he proposes to take to prevent this?
§ Mr. MabaneI understand that the hon. Member may be referring to the practice of some retailers of reserving supplies of certain foodstuffs for their regular customers. This practice is not undesirable and 721W is frequently the only method of preventing shop-crawling by persons who have more time than others to devote to shopping. If the hon. Member will give me particulars of any cases where the reserving of food for particular customers is being abused I will gladly have inquiries made.