Utility Clothing
Mr. Chetwynd, the Labour Member for Stockton-on-Tees, was able to raise the question of the price of utility clothing on the motion for the adjournment of the House of Commons on Tues- day. His thesis was a simple one: the price of utility clothing has increased, is increasing, and ought to be diminished. It is not a motion that anyone feels much inclination to dispute. But when it comes to the question of remedies for this state of affairs there is less agreement. Mr. Chetwynd suggested that there should be a subsidy for children's utility clothing (with which he was mainly concerned), and that the margin of manufacturers' profits should be cut. There is evidently a good deal of support for some sort of juggling action which would help to conceal the fact that clothing of all sorts has inevitably gone up in price because of the great increase in the cost of raw material (par- ticularly wool, cotton and leather) and the rise in wages. Even as things are, the rise in the price of clothing has not been pro- portionately as great as the rise in the cost of raw materials, though it is certain to go up again later in the year when the peak raw materials prices reach the shops. After this there should, barring accidents, be a fall. Perhaps it was this hope that prompted Mr. Chetwynd's rather pathetic suggestion that the Board of Trade " should give an assurance that we have reached the peak of price increases." Nothing, he said, would do more good to the morale of the consumer. In his reply to the debate the Parliamentary Secretary, Mr. Rhodes, refused to follow this Canute policy. He pointed out, reasonably enough, that as often as pot retailers did not charge the maximum per- mitted prices, but that if the utility scheme did continue at all there would have to be some increase in the maxima. As things are, the public's shortage of money is the best guarantee for keeping manufacturers' profits as low as possible. But the only way to bring prices down is by subsidies, which simply means, of course, transferring money from one pocket to the other.
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