§ Sir F. NELSONasked the Minister of Agriculture if he will consider the weekly publication in the London and provincial Press of the appoximate price received by farmers for milk (expressed in pints), butter (expressed in pounds), eggs (expressed per dozen), cheese (expressed per pound), in order that the consuming public may have an opportunity of comparing the prices they pay with those actually received by the producer?
§ Mr. GUINNESSAs far as possible the prices received by farmers for agricultural products are given weekly in the Agricultural Market Report which is published by my Department and issued to the London and Provincial Press. I am sending a copy to my hon. Friend. Prices of a number of agricultural commodities are also given in the weekly broadcast of market intelligence. In the Agricultural Market Report the price of butter is expressed in pounds, that of eggs per dozen and that of cheese per cwt. Milk prices are in the main arranged on yearly contracts between farmers and distributors and do not vary except as between winter and summer. These prices are only published therefore once a year in the Market Report. My hon. Friend will observe that a comparison such as he 1149W suggests between wholesale and retail prices can be made readily in the case of butter and eggs and with little difficulty in the case of cheese, but I would point out that the conclusions to be drawn from such comparisons need qualification.