§ Mr. W. THORNEasked the President of the Board of Trade, whether his attention has been drawn to the attacks now being made on the administration of the Profiteering Act and the criticisms both from supporters and opponents of the Government; whether numerous protests have been received from members of the central committee alleging that the Regulations have not been carried out and that, through the action of the chairman, the committee have been robbed of the powers conferred upon them by Article 2 in the Schedule to the Regulations; whether, through refusal to call a meeting of the central committee or the complaints committee, members are lodging their protests at tribunal meetings; whether condemnatory resolutions have been received from the profiteering committee of the Shoreditch Borough Council, the National Federation of Discharged Soldiers and Sailors, the Scottish Trade Union Congress, and other bodies; whether the chairman is now seeking to deprive the complaints committee of the power to appoint tribunals and concentrate this power in his own hands; whether on the 14th November the machinery of the preliminary investigation committee of the central body broke down and only four members attended out of eleven; and whether, under these circumstances, he will ask the chairman to resign and will call a meeting of the central committee to arrange procedure on a more satisfactory footing?
§ Sir A. GEDDESAs regards the first part of the question, I am unable to add anything to the previous answers I have given on this subject, and I would refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Members for Henley and the Moss-side Division on the 24th November. I have no knowledge of any breakdown 937W in the machinery of the Central Committee on 14th November, and I see no reason for taking the action suggested in the last part of the question.