Sir WILLIAM BARTONasked the Food Controller whether his attention has been drawn to complaints regarding the distribution of English meat in Oldham; whether he is aware that the Argenta Meat Company previous to the War never dealt in English meat and are now allocated a greater percentage of English meat than local butchers; whether he has been informed that the local butchers' association held a meeting on this matter at which Captain Sweat man, the Livestock Commissioner for the district, and Mr. R. W. Brown, the area meat agent, were present and promised to have the grievance removed; whether he is aware that this promise has not, so far, been kept; and what he proposes to do in the matter?
Mr. ROBERTSI have no information on the matters referred to by the hon. Member. Under the Rationing Scheme all butchers were entitled to obtain the same percentage of home-killed meat, and no allocation in excess of the standard percentage has been made to the Argenta Meat Company. In the matter of multiple shop companies steps have been taken to ensure that the meat supplied to the companies is equitably distributed among the various branches.