The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1915. THE REGULATION OF TRADE

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2587, 8 October 1915, Page 4

The Dominion. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8, 1915. THE REGULATION OF TRADE

The Cost of Living Bill, which was read a second time in the House of Representatives, last night, is an attempt to deal with an extremely difficult and delicate problem which has ■ baffled the keenest intellects of all ages and countries. Sir Joseph Ward,: the Minister in oharge of the Bill, frankly admitted that it was no easy matter to regulate the prici of food. He warned the House that an ideal system of State action in this matter was unattainable,' and that without a large measure of flexibility, success ■ would not be possible. There can'be no " doubt thai the path of the reformer who desires to interfere with the intricate economic laws which control the prices' of the_ necessaries of life is besot with serious obstacles and dangerous" pitfalls. Thero 'are narrowvisioned faddists who think that all the relations between buyer and seller, could' easily be arranged' by the Government and its officials to the. satisfaction of everybody. This type of person appears to think that a new world can be created by a stroke of the legislative pen. Such people have no conception of the great complexity oi such problems as that'dealing'with the cost of living. ' It cannot be argued in these days that the State has no right to in any. way with the. com- \ . ."

mercial and industrial life of the community, but when the State attempts to' fix the prices at which goods must be sold it undertakes a task which is liable to do moro harm, than good to those its action is designed to benefit. Sin Joseph Ward, in moving tho second reading of the Cost of Living Bill last ev.enirfg, made it clear that the Government was not labouring under the delusion that the fixing of maximum and minimum prices would be an infallible preventive of exploitation. He pointed out that every couritry that hjid made this experiment had found that it would not work. _ The continual changes in the conditions of trade and the intricate network of industrial relationships - mako it quite impossible to solve the problem, in this heroic fashion.

The Cost' of Living Bill is not likely to result in a material reduction in the price of food. Prices are regulated by influences and happenings over wnidi the Government of New Zealand has very little control. They cannot be governed by hard and fast rules. 'New Zealand is a producing country and its prosperity depends upon its export trade. We cannot isolate ourselves from tho rest of the world, and food prices in this Dominion must largely depend on tho prices which rule in the world's markets. But though the Cost of Living Bill will hot satisfy _ the- impossible demands of extremists, it may exercise a restraining influence on what is known as exploitation. The knowledge that a Board has been set up for the purpose of regulating, trade in tho interests of the general public and to investigate. matters affecting the food supplies of the people, may reasonably be expected to act as some oheck upon attempts .to take unduo a'dvant-age of abnormal conditions for the purpose of extorting exces-sive-prices from the community.- A groat deal, of. course, will depend upoii the personnel of flic Board of Trade which the Bill proposes to establish./ If . the right men are secured then the Board may do very useful work riot only in acting as a check on exploitation, but in collecting useful information concerning our industries, and methods of trade, and in making suggestions in connection therewith" which i may prove of value and lead to improvement.- Moreover, in the course of time its, sphere of operations will probably be widened and it may be expected to develop into an important State Department.