HC Deb 12 March 1942 vol 378 cc1215-6W
Mr. Thorne

asked the President of the Board of Trade whether he will give detailed information in connection with the case brought against Nathan Davis, of Nottingham, on Tuesday, 3rd March, for selling face powder made by himself; and whether he has seen the statement made by Mr. E. Eccleston for the Board of Trade?

Captain Waterhouse

Nathan Davies was prosecuted for contravention of the Limitation of Supplies (Miscellaneous) (No. 11) Order, 1941. He was charged with supplying face powder made by himself without having applied for registration. The summons was issued but was not served and about three months later Davies was arrested on warrant at Sheffield where he was living under an assumed name. The case was heard at Nottingham on 3rd March, when Davies pleaded guilty. Mr. Ernest Eccleston, solicitor, of Nottingham, conducted the case on behalf of the Board of Trade. Although there was some evidence as to the weight of the goods sold by Davies the prosecution had been unable to secure satisfactory evidence as to the price which the goods "might be expected to fetch if lawfully sold" and therefore it was not possible to ask the court to impose the additional penalty of three times that price under Regulation 55(1B). Mr. Eccleston informed the Court that whatever monetary penalties they might see fit to impose they would not wipe out the illicit profit made by Davies. After this statement had been made by Mr. Eccleston, Davies admitted that he had made a profit of £600, but as there was information that Davies had only a few shillings on him at the time of his arrest, it was obvious that mere monetary penalties were not likely to be very effective. The Bench imposed the maximum penalties provided by Regulation 92, namely, three months' imprisonment and a fine of £100 and in default of payment of the fine a further three months' imprisonment to run consecutively.