The Small Retailer
The measures for the protection of the small retail trader announced by Mr. Dalton• in the House of Commorjs on Tuesday go as fan. as it seems possible to go towards the solution of a difficult problem. To ensure a certain minimum of supplies the Minister proposes that each small retailer should receive a percentage of his purchases in a standard year, with extra supplies in areas where needs of consumers have increased. He will begin with clothing, pottery and hollow-ware, and in the first place through a scheme of voluntary co-operation in the trade. He proposes also to establish a register of retailers, including those who are in business and those who have been forced out, to safeguard the interests of the less fortunate ones after the war. This must not be considered as a measure taken exclusively in the interests of the small retailers themselves. It is of the greatest importance to consumers in country places that they should be allowed to make their purchases in their own locality, and there is much to be said on security grounds for a dispersal of goods. Many difficulties will remain. Familiar channels of distribution will often have to be given up. Here, as elsewhere, the stern hand of discipline will be felt. The gain will be that supplies, diminished as they will be, will at least be assured to each retailer, and that he will get his fair share.
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