§ Mr. W. THORNEasked the Prime Minister if it has been ascertained by the economic section of the Supreme Council that wholesale prices show the following increases over 1914: Italy over 300 per cent., France 300 per cent., Great Britain 170 per cent., Japan 160 per cent., and America 120 per cent.; if he can state the reasons why the Labour Gazette of the Board of Trade only shows an increase of 130 per cent. over and above 1914; and if he will take action in the matter?
§ Mr. BRIDGEMANThe figures given are those which appear to the Supreme Council to represent; approximately the movements of wholesale prices in the countries named. The difference between the measure of the rise in wholesale prices in this country, 170 per cent., and of that in retail prices, 130 per cent., is almost wholly due to two causes. One is that the retail index includes expenditure on house rent, which has increased but little in the case of the wage-earning classes, owing to restrictive legislation. The other is that the bread subsidy has resulted in a much smaller rise in the retail prices of bread and flour than in the wholesale prices of wheat.