PRICE CONTROL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 06, Issue 100, 20 August 1943, Page 5

PRICE CONTROL

SMALL TRADERS VICTIMISED MR W. SULLIVAN'S CONTENTION Investigating officers of the Department of Industries and Commerce should not be. so aggressive l in their attacks upon pcoplu situated in remote districts, said Mr W. Sullivan, M.P. for Bay of Plenty, when discussing the Estimates in the House of Representatives. Mr Sullivan said there, had been instances of prosecutions being taken against storekeepers and small traders in remote country districts. %■ Those storekeepers were not acquainted with the. Price Control Regulations, and they earned a large range of goods on which they had to meet heavy freight charges, although the price orders were fixed irrespective of. the. locality in which the goods; were sold. Some* of the investigating officers hail been a little bit hurried and impatient with the backblock storekeepers, who liad no desire to overcharge for their commodities. Mr Sullivan said an instance had come to his notice where a storekeeper had been prosecuted for charging 2 2d too much for a packet of candles. It had probably cost the Department about £o0 to bring that prosecution, and two days afterwards a price order had been issued justifying the increased price.