§ Colonel Carverasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he can clarify the position with regard to the proposed Order under which any person keeping more than 12 hens will have to sell the eggs to a packing station; whether each member of a family can keep 12 hens on the same holding or on different holdings; whether it is possible for people, other than members of the same family, to combine together to keep more than 12 hens on the same holding free of restriction; and at what stage a pullet will be considered as a hen for this purpose?
Major Lloyd GeorgeUnder the Eggs (Control and Prices) Order, 1941, no producer owning or having in his custody more than 50 head of poultry may sell or by way of trade dispose of his eggs except to a licensed buyer or a licensed packer. It is intended that all birds on one holding should be regarded as if they 1117W were in one possession. They cannot be split between a number of individuals, whether members of the family of the producer or not. Producers owning 50 head of poultry or less may sell their eggs direct to consumers but may not sell to persons buying for re-sale or to caterers. Poultry in the Order is defined as "domestic fowls and domestic ducks of not less than two months of age."
§ Sir L. Lyleasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether he has any estimate of the percentage of fresh eggs absorbed weekly by hospitals, military and other, officers' messes, Navy, Army and Air Force Institutes canteens, military and munition, and hotels and boarding-houses, respectively?
§ Captain Pluggeasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of Food whether it is intended to ration eggs or merely to control distribution?
Major Lloyd GeorgeAt present the Ministry is engaged in establishing machinery designed to secure control of home produced supplies with a view to bringing about equitable distribution of both imported and home produced eggs. The introduction of a formal rationing scheme will be further considered in the light of the experience gained in the working of the new system of distribution.