§ 64. Mr. A. Royleasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food how many ration books he is having published; what is the cost of printing and storing these books; and if he will make a statement on the reasons for their preparation.
§ Mr. SoamesRation documents will be printed in sufficient quantity to meet the needs of the country in a war emergency, and will be held by the Ministry as part of our defence planning for issue if and when it is considered necessary to introduce rationing. The estimated cost of these documents is £240,000.
The reason for taking this step is that food defence plans cannot be operated without some form of rationing document to share out equitably the food available.