TNAG-0050-FCO40-86-Disturbances-essential-food-supplies-1968 — Page 35

Points on specific points on which I

sought advice were:

(1)

Price control techniques for meat

rationing bearing in mind the number

of different cuts in each animal and

the wide variation in the quality of

meat from different sources:

The

United Kingdom system was devised from

Government ownership at some point

along the line for all meat

with

3.

(11)

the result that at that point they

established a standard price applicable

to such meat, and a universal price

list could be established for different

cuts and standards of meat. This, of

course, involved Government subsidy at

some stage (which, again, we thought

made United Kingdomadvice in this

field probably irrelvant to Hong Kong);

Methods of applying price control in

cases where supplies have to be

imported at different prices. Is it,

for example, necessary for Government

to import all supplies itself, or is

it possible for Government to buy them

from importers on arrival? In general

is it possible for price control to be

applied whilst retaining normal commerc-

ial systems of supply and distribution:

In general this is answered by the above,

but it was thought that, in spite of the

/fact