§ Mr. Ralph Howellasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer if he will publish figures for 1950, 1960, 1970, 1978, and the latest available date, for a married man with two children earning average male manual earnings, showing the length of time, after taking into account family allowance or child benefit, income tax and national insurance contribution, necessary to pay for each of the following items : weekly rent of a three-bedroomed council dwelling, mortgage repayments on a newly-built three-bedroomed semidetached house, 3 lb. of beef sirloin, 21b. of fresh cod, 141bs of potatoes, a large loaf, ½ lb. of tea, 1 quart of fresh milk, 5 cwt. of coal, high quality, 5 gallons of petrol, 10 gallons of heating oil, 100 kws electricity, 100 therms of domestic 539W gas, one monthly season ticket from Sur-biton to London, one monthly season ticket from South Kensington to Bank, postage on five letters, a call by telephone for 10 minutes off-peak London to Glasgow, 20 cigarettes, 1 pint of beer and 1 bottle of whisky.
§ Mr. BiffenInformation on the weekly rent of a three-bedroomed council dwelling, mortgage repayments on a newly built three-bedroomed semidetached house, the price of five gallons of petrol, the price of a one monthly season ticket from Surbiton to London, a monthly season ticket from South Kensington to Bank, the cost of postage on five letters, the cost of a 10-minute
MINUTES TO BE WORKED TO EARN SUFFICIENT INCOME TO BUY ARTICLE Items 1950 1960 1970 1978 1979 3 pounds of home killed first quality beef sirloin (without bone) 137 187 178 223 225 2 pounds of fresh cod … 64 53 56 83 78 14 pounds of potatoes … 38 37 31 25 33 1 large loaf … 10 11 12 12 11 ½pound of tea … 35 38 22 20 17 1 quart of fresh milk … 18 15 13 11 11 5 hundredweights of high quality coal … 491 506 528 593 598 10 gallons of heating oil … — 240 169 202 255 100 kilowatts of electricity … — 201 123 143 136 100 therms of domestic gas … — 270 145 87 77 20 cigarettes … — 47 34 25 24 1 pint of beer (bottled or canned) … — 21 19 17 17