asked the Minister of Labour what weight is given in the cost-of-living index to butcher's meat, cooked ham, poultry and rabbit, respectively.

In the Interim Index of Retail Prices beef, mutton and lamb carry a weight of 37 out of a total of 1,000 for all items. Expenditure on all other meat (excluding bacon and ham), carries a weight of 23 out of 1,000. To represent the wide range of meat products covered by this group, the prices of seven items, each having the same weight, are taken. Two of these items relate to pork and one to rabbits. Cooked ham and poultry are not included in the list of items for which prices are obtained in compiling the index.

Does not that somewhat misleading reply really mean that the Government are forcing the housewives to purchase what the bureaucrats would call non-index meat in order to protect their precious cost-of-living index, and how much longer will the public be asked to believe in this fraudulent fetish?

It depends on how one looks at it. I think that it is the Question which is intended to be misleading and not the answer.

Can the Minister give the figures for fish?