§ Mr. Hayhoeasked the Secretary of State for Employment whether he will
AVERAGE HOURLY EARNINGS, AVERAGE RETAIL PRICES AND MINUTES OF WORK REQUIRED TO EARN THE PRICES OF SPECIFIED ITEMS October 1971 October 1972 October 1973 October 1974 Average gross hourly earnings of manual men in October 69.19p 79.60p 89.74p 107.83p Average retail prices in October of:— White bread 1¾ lb. loaf 9.5p 10.4p 11.3p 13.9p 1 pint of milk 5.5p 5.5p 5.5p 4.5p 1 dozen standard eggs 18.9p 19.3p 41.9p 37.7p The cheapest British saloon car £641 £661 £730 £980 Weekly rent of an unfurnished dwelling (including rates)* £3.05 £3.56 £3.70 £4.36 Monthly repayment of a mortgage on a new house*† £31.57 £46.34 £69.18 £71.39 Minutes of work required to earn the prices in October of:— White bread 1¾ lb. loaf 8.2 7.8 7.6 7.7 1 pint of milk 4.8 4.1 3.7 2.5 1 dozen standard eggs 16.4 14.5 28.0 21.0 The cheapest British saloon car 55,600 49,800 48,800 54,500 Weekly rent of an unfurnished dwelling (including rates)* 265 268 247 242 Weekly repayment of a mortgage on a new house*† 619 788 1,045 896 * Based on figures for the last quarter of the year. † Mortgage repayments are calculated after tax relief at the standard rate and are based on an advance equal to 90 per cent. of the average price of new houses mortgaged in the quarter.