COST OF LIVING

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 167, 10 April 1920, Page 7

COST OF LIVING

' WHAT IS BEING DONE

WORK OF BOARD OF TRADE

TRIBUNAL'S PROCEDURE

, IMPO.RTANX INQUIRIES

STATEMENT BY PRIME MINISTER,

The Eight Hon. the Prime Minister state! yesterday that .he had . _ watched carefully the |trend of public opinion respecting increased, cost of living, . and Wanted-to take.the opportunity of letting the public know the action .taken by the - ..Government, during, recent months.- -Thu Government,.luul been ac- . cusetl of unsympathetic nihuimstratjori of the Board.of.Tvado Act of lost session. The Prime. .-Minister. said that, it vvas .necessary to Reiterate that the 'Governmeat was "determined to do all \iius to check profiteering, _ a ncl his action in appointing four district tribunals was- proof of this determination. In the • personnel of the tribunals, regard had been puid by .the Government to their special fitriess.ito conduct such inquiries and to warrant the coniidcnco of the public. The gentlemen appointed werejflll classes, of. the community and wer«S' showing ah earnestdesire to assist the Government in carrying out the intention of the existing legislation. ' The Government now looked to the' public'' to do their share in making the tribunals of the maximum' use'by bringing under their notice allmatters "regarding treasonably ..high prices, which the tribunals would investigate'and report upon.'. The tribunals had now been in operation • for three weeks and the arrangement made .was that they should meet-on three days, m ■cash- week,- but experience had, shown '' that; 'they would probably have to,'-sit much ■ more frequently .in ■ order to .copo - with" the amount of' work proffering. ' Numerous complaints as to unreasonably high/ prices had been brought .before the tribunals, covering tea, furniture, hardware, meat, coal, tobacco and cigarettes, sugar, agricultural -implements,cutlery, binder twine, thread, medicines, seeds,- flour; ioatmeal, footwear, benzine, leather, anib house rents. Accountants had been attached ,to each -of the tnbr unals for the purpose of . making the necessary inouiries :. and investigations. For the purpose -of investigations concerning'' articles,-with relation to .winch ' women's special knowledge was required, Mr".-Mussey-stated-that he had approved of the services of women-being, employed anl it was probable in. this connection tint the' expert ; inspectors attached, to " the -Labour Department would .be utilised;- • 'r •*. - ■:.. . NAMES OF COMPLAINANTS. ; 11 He wished specially :to stress that the • r'jiames of persons -making. . wire not-disclosed .by the tribunals in -.connection with . inquiries. The pro-cedure-usually followed was for the in-: qui:y instituted by .any complaint to be,in tho first place, made by the account- ( -ivut-. and following this the.person'against. whom: the. complaint was made, was generallr called upon-lto. appear before the ' tribunal. . -Tie result-of' the inquiry .jvas then'-communicated to the complainant, who : iwas advised c£ the. opinion of the tribunal-respecting the complaint. As wis naturally to be expected, in a large - number-of cases the result of the in- • 'quii-y was sufficient to satisfy the com T 1 plainant -that the .ch.arge of unreasonable prices could not be' maintained, but in cases where the tribunal considered that aofciMi-should be,taken, each action, would take the form of-either- _ (a) A demand for a refund in-cases ' whero the overcharge .was < obviously duo to a mistake; ... /b) Publication of' facts for general . information;' :' ' ' . (c) Recommendation to' the Board; 01. Trade, tliat :prcicee<lings. be instituted.. . • • Several of the tribunals, had reported, . tliat cases, had Ve'eri brought before'their notice dealing with excessive rents. Mr., Mareey stated that although these cases did not at. present come within the scope ...of the act, he'had asked the tribunals .to,-inquire .into cases of sales of house property at excessive prices, and ;to .bring "under the notice of the - Labour.. ■ Department cases'" where excessive i-»nts appeared to be charged, as the legislation already existed enabling the Labour De- • -partmont to. take action. Prior to the establishment of trie V tribunals, tho Board of Trade' 1 had instructed the various Crown solicitorto institute nroceedings uriderosection 32 . of- the Board" of Trade Act for charging ,- .unreasonably high -prices;- One case nad '.already been heard in Wellington, and other cases were pending in Hawera. ■ .Lawrence, .Dunedin, Cliristchurch, New . Plymouth, and Auckland.

OTHER REGULATIONS COMING. ~ /.The foregoing statements'liad relation particularly' to • tihe administration of '.section 32" of the Act, which .covers. 1 specific cases of the charging of unreasonably high prices. The power was, •' however, provided in section.26 ofhthe Act to make regulations providing, inter • alia, for .the prevention or suppression of'.unfair methods .of- competition, the \ suppression of monopolies, the establish-\ment-of fixed or'maximum prices, anil .'the general regulation 1 of'prices.-' Regulations iirider this section had already been drafted and were'at present-under _' r . consideration by the Government. , NECESSARY COMMODITIES. •r: . .Mr. Massey pointed out,that the .work of the Board- of Trade' had been con- ' siderably relieved -by ..the'establishment !.. of the profiteering tribunals enabling ■a'-the board to give.- time to the control'. . of distribution . and price of essential. commodities in short supply. The con- • trol. exercised by the board was in the nature of rationing, such, important commodities as petrol, wheat, flour, cement, ;"„and' .sugar, ( and this-control Ibaa been' exercised without undue .interference with ordinary trade and buying .methods... Ifi all these lines prices had been controlled,-the board'following tho policy that a shortage did not necessarily. justify an increase in price such' ~ as might have "obtained had the ordi- " nary economic law of supply and de- '. mand'been the 6ole factor. • The Board of Trade lmd in hand the / following work:— • •. ' PETROL. ... The) control of the distribution of ,petrol ■ throughout New Zealand. Tho . .- scheme of control involves:— . (1) Compilation of statistics Jrom time to time showing stocks in hand'. '■ and afloat. " '' ' .. i...- . (2) Distribution of stocks througnout New Zealand. (8) Allocation of stocks to various users. ' (4) Control of prices. ' (a) Supervision of tho work of the ,'! . petrol 6ub-committees in the various centres.

V WHEAT, FLOUR, & BREAD. The lifting of the purchase in Australia 'of-. 60ine 60,000 tons of wheat and its distribution on arrival to the variou-.i, '. flourmillers in New Zealand was an important duty undertaken by the Board "in conjunction with the control of the • price, sale, and distribution of wheal grown in New-Zealand, Similarly llu. board coniji'ijlled' the price of flour and its distribution, - and special steps had been and were, being taken to control hoarding for-speculative purposes. J.n regard to bread, the board was engaged in a comprehensive investigation into the cost ol" manufacture, cost of distribution, the receipts from sale of bread, ■ and the net profits. Every baker in " the Dominion was to supply this i.v . formation and the work of checking, . dissecting, and compiling would be considerable, but ..would furnish the Government with more information in regard to - the., bakery business than had ever before been obtained. :. .- -\ . , WOOLLEN GOODS. . The. board was engaged in a comprehensive inquiry respecting the prices of woollen goods, and was now investigating the accounts of the various woollen companies of the Dominion. When this inquiry was completed it propped to extend it to -warehouses, tailoitf, and

retail shops, As a result of this inquiry much valuable information should be obtained, and the. board should be able to check any-undue increases in prico in regard to locally manufactured clothing.

CEMENT. ■ Owing to the shortage of supplies, duo mainly to the abnormal demands for building 'purposes and to the shortage of .output resulting from insuliicient supplies of coal, the Government found it necessary to 'inaugurate,, through the lioiu'd of Trade, a system; of allocating 'siltlf cement as was available-to the more-' essentinl .users in order that the housing scheme of the Government' and urgent necessary works should not be unduly, hampered.- A scheme of. distribution had been-agreed upon to prevent duplication of orders and to assure supplies reaching essential users. Thw scheme had .come into operation this week, and' should allay the dissatisfaction that at present existed in ..regard to distribution. The work of finding shipping, t not only for cement supplies, but for''other, essential commodities, had been placed upon the board, as the board, was .often the best authority iojudjie which parts of New Zealand were most urgently in need of supplies, whether it bo cement, benzine, Hour, or sugar.. • . . SUGAR. . As was w'elj known, tha fioiird of Trade, v.-iU' allocating available; supplies of sugar to the respective industries using, sugar and-conserving as.much as possible fur household use. The board had under' preparation a comprehensive scheme of control so M to check duplication of 'orders through merchants and ensure, fair and equitable treatment to consumers generally. HIDES AND LEATHER. V ■ A'c6ntr6l over-the export of hides had been exercised lor 'some considerable time and the Government had'recently- had a-confefence with representatives'" of-.all' parties concerned, and issued regulations with' the object of ensuring that while pmliicer's' of hides would receive the' .market'price for their product, the - taiinsrs of New Zc-aland could not, as a re--' sult of export, be in the position of having insufficient hides for their, re-ciuh-emehtsl Following the increase mada by tanners in leather prices, the Gov-' eminent had instructed the board to institute an inquiry under the following heads. . ~

(1) Whether the tanners were buying prior to the lifting of the embargo hides;' in excess of' the gazetted rates, and if so, the.conditions of purchase and from whom they were purchased. ■ (2) Stocks in hand immediately prior, to tho raising of the embargo; if below, normal-.how. far -short this was of normal requirements. (3) Date tanners increased.. price's of •leather and date-they commenced-using the higher priced hides. (-4) Whether the margin of profit under embargo .conditions -was reasonable, and whether -the-margin, of. profit'under present conditions is reasonable. Questioned as to the effect of the increased "prices- of-'leather, upon- the standard boot scheme, Mr; Massey. stated that this did-not mean, the abandonment of Hie' 'scheme'."' The Board of Trads was at present engaged in getting the several" 6ahiples"recosted and . would ■ fix new 'prices based'on tha extra cost of leather, niaterials,- and labour since, the scheme 'was first established; It was still*"possible 1 to bii'y standard boots in Wellington at the old'tirices.

TIMBER. ■A control had for some two years past been exercised' over the prices and export of timber. Ail impression-seemed to be abroad -that the shortage of supplies of building timber at the present; time'- was 'duiT' to the export of-largo quantities to Australia. - Mr. Massey stated that he had from time to time supplied figures to the Press showing this to lie incorrect, and he could 'assure the public that at the' present time very considerably less , timber was being exported than at - any other time in the history' of -the' industry.The ..'shortage to.' the abnormal de'-' ."'iuid'..for the erection of buildings/ The. export, of building timber was taking place only froni the West Coast of the South Island, and from ports in the 'extreme north .of the Auckland province, and, to a ' great- extent to utilise space on .coal .boats returning to Australia, -as it was essential, that back freight for such' vessels should be. supplied; - ' ';,

INCREASES INEVITABLE. . Admittedly in the case of the commodities referred to in the foregoing statement, ■ prices had increased when con)-., pared with those ruling in pre-war days, but in every ense justification had' to'lie shown to the board i'or the'increases, and evidence in support of such Vas in the possession of the '-'board. Whilst the board could exercise control over essential- commodities manufactured in - the Dominion, and over' the prices charged for same by merchants, there,, was considerable difficulty in controlling: tlip'very large number "of commodities, that had to be imported. The price? of, these imported' commodities—including 'dried fruits', tinned fish,' tea, cocoa; coffee,; rice, and olhor' grocery lines, tobacco, hardware, paint, Wooliqji and cotton iioods,, linoleums and furnishing?, crockery, chemicals!"and drugs, and' artificial manures—were dependent wholly upon "tho landed cost,, and au tfrat the Government . or!; 1 the Board of Trade" could do ivas' ;to 'ensure that the profits niado by merchants .and distributors in New Zealand were 'reasonable.'. Mr. Massey stated .that a return had been prepared for tiie Government by the board show ing the increase, in cost of . these imported goods., .which disclosed, taking the price in 1913 as equalling thtf index. number of 1000, in 1915 the number rose to 1210; in . 1917 to 1839,. and. in 1919 to 2238, ~ A favoured' country. x Sir- Massey stated in conclusion that lie had-had the opportunity of studying conditions abroad at first hand, and h'is feeling was that, in' New Zealand the people wore-infinitoly better off than, the population of oth?r countries. The position in New Zealand.undoubtedly called' for close, watelling, but the forces affect-' ing prices were often beyond effectivecontrol, here, and control, unless properly . exercised, might mean famine :n the future. The following table showed that we still held the n'ost favourable position with respect to food prices as compared with other,countries :— . Tahlo showing the percentage-increases '.in.cost .-of living, between July, 19M, and the months shown, in various countries: Comparisons ' between Increase Country. July, 19M, and per cent. ■ Imlia (Calcutta) November, 1919 51 Spain March, 1919 • 57 Australia ' December, 1919 . nS New Zealand March, 1920.' . G2 South Africa November, 1919 67 United States November, 1919 88 Canada November, 1919 92. Holland (Am- ' sterdam) November, 1919 102 Denmark July, 1919 112 I'. Kingdom . January, 1920 13G Switzerland September, 1919 1-11 France (Paris) December, 1919 •-■ 18i> Norway -November, 1919 197 Sweden December, 1919 207

B sell) n " (Br,:5 ' October, 1919 ■2« Italy (Home) .Noveanber, 1019 • ''ill Note —The increase in New Zealand between July, 1914, and. December, 1919 was 55 per cent., which would place, the Dominion'second on the list as at the end of 1919. Everyone -'in commerce knew the extreme difficulty in securing supplies, and at no time in the .Dominion s history was the demand-for imported goods so great and the shelves so bare, the Government would do its duty in facing the position -fearlessly, but' it hart to bs careful and just. He would again stress that the Government had given every possible opportunity to the pub he o having lull investigation'made, into all cases in which tliev considered unreasonable profits were being made, and thVGovernment l'&oked to them to exercise heir powers in this ilifection. as without the assistance of-the public the full 'benefit, of the legislation recently passed could not be realised. ■