§ 73. Mr. Errollasked the President of the Board of Trade why the price of certain goods such as fertilisers, flax yarn, and kraft liner board, are controlled under Defence Regulations while the price of other goods such as soap, industrial cotton yarn and wrapping paper are controlled under the Goods and Services (Price Control) Acts, 1939 and 1941.
Mr. H. WilsonMost raw materials and their partly manufactured derivatives were first brought under price control when the responsible Minister was the then Minister of Supply. He was at all 73W times a competent authority with power to control prices under Defence Regulations, and made his maximum price orders on that basis because he had no parallel powers under the Goods and Services (Price Control) Acts. The Board of Trade, on the other hand, have always been vested with both sets of powers. The Board have used the Defence Regulation method for controlling the manufacturers' prices for most utility goods as part of the utility schemes; but for many goods it was convenient, in the first instance, to use the technique of "price-regulation" under the Prices of Goods Act, 1939, and most price controls first imposed by the Board were imposed under either that Act or the Goods and Services (Price Control) Act of 1941. In general, it is still convenient to control each description of goods on whichever basis was used for it in the first place.