Catalogue description Royal Commission on Food Prices and Food Council

The Royal Commission on Food Prices

This Commission was appointed on 29 November 1924 and consisted of 16 members under the chairmanship of Sir Auckland Geddes, GCMG, KCB. The Commission was required 'to enquire into the conditions prevailing in the wholesale and retail trades in articles of food of general consumption so far as they affect prices, particularly having regard to the difference between the prices received by the producers and the prices paid by consumer and to report what action, if any, can be usefully taken.'

The Commission was not unanimous in its findings and its report published on 23 April 1925 (Cmd. 2390) was subject to certain reservations by four of its members. Two other members produced minority reports. The commission held 34 meetings in public and 40 in private and on the grounds of economy took evidence from two groups of trades only (i.e. the wheat and meat trades). The principal recommendation of the commission was that a Food Council should be established to maintain a continuing supervision over the staple food trades.

The Food Council, 1924-1939.

This body was appointed by the Prime Minister in July 1925 following the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Food Prices. Its terms of reference were to investigate complaints relating to the supply or prices of staple foods in the interests of the consumer or trader with particular reference to the following commodities: wheat, flour, bread, bacon, ham, milk, butter, cheese, eggs, fish, fruit, vegetables, sugar and tea. The council was constituted as a non-statutory body of 17 members representing the interested government departments, the food trade, the co-operative societies, the trade unions and the consumer. It was under the chairmanship of Mr Geoffrey Peto, CBE, and was required to report its findings to the President of the Board of Trade from 'time to time'. The Food Council was given no powers of compulsion and all the information obtained in the course of its investigations was given voluntarily. The functions of the council were terminated at the outbreak of the Second World War.