WAR PROFITEERING

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 92, 15 October 1940, Page 11

WAR PROFITEERING

EFFECTIVE ACTION AT HOME

PERMITTED PRICES

(From "The Post's" Representative.) LONDON, September 9. War profiteering is being watched closely in Britain, and in eight months to August some 3000 complaints have been investigated. Mr. Raymond'Evershed, K.C., chairman of the Central Price Regulation Committee, has stated that the Prices of Goods Act/ which' came into operation in January, had proved a much more effective piece of legislation in the control of prices than its critics would have thought possible. "I think that up to now there has been no attempt at general profiteering," he said, "and in order to maintain this good effect it is the duty of the public to bring to the attention of the local committees any instances in which they consider traders are profiteering." To the end of August the local committees had investigated some 3000 complaints covering all kinds of goods, including clothes, boots, furniture, ironmongery, soap, candles, electric torches, sandbags, and stirrup pumps. They had recommended prosecution in 37 cases, and in practically all the cases where proceedings had been taken convictions had beea obtained and fines imposed which, with costs, I amounted to £189. Mr. Evershed said that up to the present there had been no serious scarcity of articles, but the time was likely to come in the course of the next month or two when a scarcity in some articles would make itself felt. Once such a situation arose there was a temptation to exploit it, and it was against such a possibility that the committee was anxious to have all its tackle in order so as to ha^e fixed as many prices as possible. COMPLAINTS ABOUT BATTERIES. Of the number of cases investigated, 650 regarding torch batteries were the subject of by far the greatest number of complaints, and next were men's and women's clothing with almost 100 complaints in each category. Certain articles of food for which maximum prices had not yet been fixed by the [Ministry of Food were the subject of [ 735 complaints. Recently, at the request of the Ministry of Food, arrangements had been made for the local committees to investigate such complaints on behalf of the Ministry. The committees were being invested by the Ministry with power to call ! for the production of traders' books and accounts and would tender advice to the Ministry, through the central committee, in cases where it thought price regulation of these articles of food would be desirable. The local committees would hot deal with complaints regarding foods for which maximum prices had been fixed. One of the methods for controlling prices under the Act was the specification by the Board of Trade, on the application of the central committee, of "permitted prices" for goods of a certain description. Between January and August orders were issued specifying prices for a wide range of branded price-maintained goods, par- j ticularly men's, women's, and children's underwear and hosiery, men's shirts and pyjamas, women's silk stockings, and piece-goods.

This method had proved very effective, said Mr. Evershed, and as an illustration of the practical result it had been estimated that the reduction of price effected on 150 out of the 300 items covered by Orders of the Board of Trade would result in an annual saving of £500,000 to the public. On the 300 items it might be expected that not far short of £1,000,000 would be saved.