§ Sir J. HARMOOD-BANNERasked the Minister of Food whether the clerk to the Llanelly rural district council has been 1986W appointed the officer for local food control for the area comprising the borough of Llanelly and the rural district of Llanelly; whether the population of the borough is far greater than the rural district; whether all the wholesale and most of the retail establishments for the sale of food for the combined area are in the borough; and why, under these circumstances, an officer of the borough was not selected for the post?
§ Mr. McCURDYThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. In addition, however, to the borough of Llanelly with a population of about 36,000 and the rural district of Llanelly with a population of about 30,000, the new food district will include also the district of Burry Port with a population of about, 5,000. The rural district of Llanelly is a very important and widespread area and its rateable value is considerably higher than that of the borough. It contains a number of small towns associated with the local colliery and tinplate industries, in which a considerable retail trade is done. The hon. Member will recognise that the new local food arrangements have necessarily resulted in the displacement of at considerable number of executive officers of the Food Control Committees which have been dissolved. It was only after careful consideration of the claims of all the existing executive officers that the Divisional Food Commissioner recommended as the most suitable officer to be placed in charge of the combined district the executive officer of the Llanelly Rural Food Control Committee, who has been an executive officer since 1917 and has an intimate knowledge of the whole area. As, the office of the combined district is situated in the town of Llanelly, the district officer will be in close touch with all the traders in that town.