ANOMALIES IN PRICE ORDERS

Chronicle (Levin), 10 January 1948, Page 5

ANOMALIES IN PRICE ORDERS

The present methods adopted by tlie Government ixx issuing new price order.-> are malciug it impossilxle for any grocer Lix Xew Zealand to keep within the law. xn stating this yesterday the secretarv of the llanawatu-Wairarapa Grocers' Association, 51 r. F. G. 51. Parkinsou, said that the grocers had been placeu in an anonialous and very uusatisfac .ory position. The issuing of the price orders and the date on whieh they became opera tive had created the situation, he said. Xew prices for foodstuffs were publisli ed in the Xew Zealand Gazette but tlu trouble arose from the fact that thc c.onnnencing dates for tlie new prices were almost invariably the same as fo; the day on whieh the Gazette was ptjblislxed. A eopy of the Gazette wasent to the secretaries of all tlugrocers' organisations by niail. By thc time the information was reeeived, copies of the new price orders eveio styled and mailed, and tlne grocer hau become awaxe of the new price he was xtsually a week late in his niarking uj» of prices. In- -this case he"' was the loser. If, on the other hand, the prices were coming down, the consumer would be the loser. The matter is to be taken up with the Xew Zealand Grocers' Association con fereiice in Dunedin in Februarv Avilh the suggestion that the Government be asked to postdate any alteratious iu price so that grocers are given ampl" warning of any impending change. In this way both the merchants and their customers would be safeguarded. 51 r. Parkinsou also drew attention to the duplication of price orders through departmental errors. As an examph; he cjuoted an order concerning Austra lian eanned fruits whieh was issiied on December 12. The order, whieh was gazet-ted on December 12, and became

operative on that date, had ^c|uoteu JO-oz cans of peaches at 2s 24d; this order was amended exactly a week latei by another wluch set the price at 2s 3d. This differenee was a departmental error as the price had been aniendpd iiut had not allowed for the revoeation of saies tax aml did not give the pri.ee unit margin agreed upo'n. It was per lxaps fortunate that tlxe Australian eanned fruit did not eome on the markot before Uhristinas a§ had been iix tended because the grocers in the distriet could- not have been made aware of it before December 24. Another order quoted concerned the sale of eanned herrings. On December 12 the gazetted price of a I4-oz can of herrings in sauce became Is 1 11 d, but on December 19 t}ii.s price "VN'ass anxpnde.ff to 2s because of the non-allowancp of saies tax revoeation. In the duplication of the orders all information' was again printed by the Government Prijiter, the disorgknisation resulting being great. Not only did the order have to be re-pripted hdt the amendment also requir'ed the gropers' association to expend mtich more in eyclostyling the amendment for its members' information p.nd also caused more tvork for the merchanta wheu oue price followed so quiekly after the. other.