SPECULATION IN COMMODITIES

Press, Volume LXXI, Issue 21418, 9 March 1935, Page 15

SPECULATION IN COMMODITIES

THE PEPPER CORNER PROTECTING ENGLISH REPUTATION CI'KTTED PHE.-3 AS.SOt'I ATtON —BY bLECTPIC i* V, L Z G-K A Fl3 —t O WRIGHT.) (Received March 8. 10 p.m.) LONDON, March 7. In the House of Commons, Mr E. C. Grenfell (Con.. City of London) moved a reduction of the civil vote to direct attention to the recent } speculations in pepper, shellac, and 1 tin, declaring that they included "spicy elements, sticky episodes, - glittering pages, and reckless cx- • ploits." The alarm over the recent affair, which led to the failure of several 1 solid and respectable firms, was not confined to England. The foreign i press readily printed news of it, I creating the impression abroad that • some English Stavisky affair had ; been unearthed, which was exceed- . ingly bad for Great Britain's repu- ; fation. Those who took part attempted a , pepper corner, planning to increase : the retail price by a halfpenny an ounce, which was negligible to the consumer, but which would have meant £1,500.000 profit to them, which "was not to be sneezed at.' (Laughter.) Mr Grenfell revealed that Great ' Britain was the world's largest, con--1 sumer of pepper. Ilcr stocks in■'creased tenfold in 1034, compared' ' with 1032. The plan for a corner i failed because of the world's enor- ■ motts pepper harvest. It was well known that the people who speculated in pepper had also dealt in shellac and tin. A corner ;~n tin was impossible, but if the ! price was raised consumers would I 'nave to resort to substitutes. i Effect of Cheap Money ; Sir Arthur Samuel SurI'c.v), supporting Mr Grenieii, exj pressed the opinion that gambling in commodities was helped by excessively cheap money. The Treas- ■ ury shouJcl-enquire whether this had not gone too far. The cheap money • policy defeated itself, and merelv encouraged speculation instead of. trade. The Board of Trade should enquire how far the limited Ilabil- • iiy law was permitting itself to be 1 used as a shield for disreputable • transactions. Mr Walter Runciman (President ' of the Board of Trade), replying, ■ said that he was most concerned '.o maintain the reputation of the City of London for clean dealing. People had every reason to be disturbed. There must be an investi- ! gation. and it was only a question j what form it would take. It was j not easy to define legitimate and illegitimate speculation. Nature of Enquiry Mr Runciman emphasised that I he official receiver, who was now conducting an enquiry into the pepper pool operations, had the widest powers, and was one of the most | fearless ofliciais in London. Therej tore there was no need for misgiving | regarding the tribunal, its scope or j its methods. Until all this usual j machinery was exhausted there was l no need for a further enquiry, j He believed that the roof of the j present, trouble was the absence of •i ''~!ll'm; day An •"•■.■■mpk' might j be t iken fi\ m the Ea'tic centre of | ;i'iworld's grain trade, which was If o democratically conducted that | even the clerks on the floor were represented on the committee. If there had been a pepper market i like this the trouble could not have ! arisen. j He was determined to see that the investigations went to the utmost limit, and he was going to get the whole truth out. On the Continent tire term "Stavisky" had been used about the pepper trouble. "Stavisky" meant corruption in public life. It was neces- : arv that it should be known abroad that as far as the Government and the members of the House of Commons were concerned there had not been a whisper of suspicion that a single individual was mixed up in j the affair.