EVER-SOARING PRICES

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 235, 29 June 1920, Page 6

EVER-SOARING PRICES

MAGISTRATE'S COMMENT ON ECONOMIC CONDITIONS. By Telegraph-Press Association. Christchurch, June 28. In his judgment iir the profiteering charges to-day, Mr. SrE. M'Cnrthy, S.M., discussing economic conditions, said: "The considerable profits made.out of land, commerce, and industry, and the hiigh rate of wages prevailing, together with an inflated paper currency, have given a momentum to an orgy of private extravaganeo dominating sections of all classes. We have had the unthinking herd engaging in a mad chase after sensory pleasures, whilst the increased and increasing prices for literature have deprived well-nigh all but the well-to-do of those solid joys of which thle changes and chances of life cannot idb thefr happy possessors. We have been producing less and consuming more. Prices have become 60 inflated that persons with moderate incomes find it difficult, if not impossible, to maintain their families and themselves and keop out of debt. Out of this welter there has emerged the unscrupulous trader, bent on exploiting to tho utmost the necessities, the vices, and tho follies of his fellow citizens. The baleful activities of ths class of trader are assisting to waft higher and higher the ever-soaring prices. These remarks are of mere general application, and the Court is bound to say that the evidence adduced would not justify the inclusion of any of the defendant firms in this category. These, however, are the ecoconditions which led up to tho nnss~in!r of this statute (the Board' of Trade"Act, 1019), and it is in the light of these conditions that it must lie interpreted."