§ Mr. Rhys Daviesasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food, whether he is aware that retailers who have always sold tinned vegetables, soups, sardines and tomatoes, are restricted in the prices they may charge customers for those commodities, but that other shopkeepers who have recently entered into this business are charging higher prices for the same brands; and will he take steps to remove this anomaly?
Major Lloyd GeorgeUnder the Food (Current Prices) Order, 1941, which follows closely to provisions, approved by Parliament in the Prices of Goods Act,1939, retailers are forbidden in respect of certain specified foods to exceed the prices at which those goods were being offered for sale on 2nd December, 1940. It follows that under this Order as under the Prices of Goods Act, one trader may be legitimately in a position to charge a higher price for a certain article than an other trader can charge for the same article, irrespective of whether the retailer did or did not engage in the sale of the particular article on 2nd December, 1940. In the case of the retailer who did not sell or offer to sell any specified food on 2nd December, 1940, the Order provides that such retailer must not exceed the price at which the article in question was being offered for sale by a retailer carrying on a similar business. The anomaly involved is unavoidable unless separate maximum prices can be fixed for the many goods comprised under the Order. Steps are being taken gradually to fix specific prices for articles covered by the Order, and as this is done these articles are moved from the scope of the Food (Current Prices) Order.