§ Lieut.-Colonel CAMPIONasked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware of the present high price of sporting cartridges; whether this is caused, as alleged by the cartridge sellers, by the fact that the sale is controlled by a small, ring; and, if so, whether he will take any steps in the matter to protect the interests of the consumers against the combine?
§ Sir A. GEDDESMy attention had not previously been called to the matters referred to in the question of my hon. and gallant Friend, and I will consider the advisability of applying the Profiteering Act to sporting cartridges, in order that the prices, costs, and profit, of these articles may be investigated at all stages. The policy of the Board of Trade in administering the Profiteering Act is to apply the Act first to articles of a kind in common use by the public, and my hon. and gallant Friend will appreciate that there are very many articles more generally used by the public than sporting cartridges.