INVESTIGATION OF PRICES.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2183, 30 September 1920, Page 3

INVESTIGATION OF PRICES.

DISSATISFACTION EXPRESSED BY FARMERS. “It is time we sent a -.remit in, ’ said Mr D. McGregor, at the meeting of the Fordell branch of the Farmers’ Union, as a prelude to some pithy comments on the operations of the Prices Investigation Tribunal.

Mr McGregor considered that the Tribunal was striving for the shadow and missing the substance, and was now engaged in Auckland inquiring why a lady'.-' dross costing £7 should he sold for £l9. The other day the Tribunal had an investigation over the price of a bottle of hair restorer. Surely Hie Tribunal was set up for a different purpose.' While farmers Avere gelling only Is (id per lb. for their wool, the price of clothing was very high, and although the price of hides had come down the price of boots kepi up. ft was time they asked the Government to disband the Tribunal and appoint' somebody Avho had the interests of the country at, heart. A Voice: Didn’t they have one case over a pot of vaseline? (Lan-

ghler.) ‘‘The whole thing is a farce,” added Mr McGregor, “it is time that somebody looked alter our interests better.”

The president (Mr \V. J. Poison) said they seemed to be working the ■wrong way. If they had inspectors, like the inspectors of weights and .measures, the work could be carried along on better lines. An inspector could impound an invoice, then inspect a wholesaler’s books, and carry the matter right through to (he distributing merchant. The Government had set up a lot of cumbersome and complicated machinery, and had now got it tangled round their necks.

Mr McGregor again referred to (lie high prices charged for woollen materials.

The president: said the wool, after scouring, cost Ss or 10s per lb. at Home, and about 4s or 5s here. It bad to be span by complicated machinery. Gome of the dyes had advanced very much in price, and cost as .much as 12s per lb. W hen it he wool left the factory it probably cost 7s per lb. Then it weal, through the bauds of the wholesalers and the retailers. He did not think that the Tribunal could do much. A Voice; What a I unit a pair of white blankets? The President ; No woollen mill wants to make (hem. The Voice; Not enough profit, I suppose! The President: Better profits can be made oat ot cloth. Mr McGregor (facetiously): I forgot you arc the director of a woollen company. (Laughter.) A Voice: What about hoots? The President suggested a remit on the lines of reconstruction of the Prices Investigation Tribunal by (he appointment of inspectors on the same lines as the inspectors ot weights and measures. Mr McGregor: It should not be Ml, to private people to take action. The President : Inspectors would get over that. Afr AlcGregor: Now the onus of proof is on the persons bringing the matter up, and they have to do the dirty work. It was decided to forward a remit in beeping with the President's suggestion that inspectors should be appointed to lake the place ot the present tribunal. —Chronicle.