asked the President of the Board of Trade if he is aware that street vendors in the West End regularly sell elastic at three to four times the controlled price; and how many prosecutions of street vendors have taken place in the last 12 months for excessive prices.

I am aware that elastic is frequently sold by street vendors above the controlled price and Price Regulation Committees are doing their utmost to detect and prosecute offenders. During the 12 months ended 31st December, 1946, 280 stallholders and street traders were prosecuted for pricing offences by my Department and 114 of these were in respect of elastic. If the public would assist by refusing to pay more than the controlled price, this would do more than anything to stop the practice.

Can the President explain how these people get hold of this elastic while small shopkeepers in my Constituency cannot get any of it?

If we could understand how they get hold of it we could probably stop it.