Oral Answers to Questions — Trade and Commerce – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 13 May 1947.
asked the President of the Board of Trade why vendors at shows and fairgrounds can display such large quantities of china, whilst shopkeepers have none at all.
I am afraid that I cannot agree with my hon. Friend that because some pottery finds its way to fun fairs there is anything unfair about distribution.
Is my hon. Friend aware that it is quite impossible for housewives to obtain china in the shops just now, and that it is a very difficult thing for a housewife to go into training for three or four months to hit a bull's-eye in order to get a set of china? Further, is he aware that it takes almost as long to train to hit the bull's-eye as it takes to get a reply from the Secretary of State for War?
I would not know a great deal about that. I do not think I have ever hit a bull's-eye in my life. I am quite certain that the amount of china that finds its way into fun fairs is trifling and that it is not the kind of china which the average housewife is anxious to buy.