CONTROL OF RETAIL PRICES

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2330, 17 September 1921, Page 4

CONTROL OF RETAIL PRICES

The reluctance of retail prices to follow declines in wholesale values was discussed recently by the London Morning Post, in reference to the fact that, although the cost of the production of coal has been substantially reduced by the strike settlement, the price of coal to the domestic consumer, instead of going down, has gone up 5s a ton. Of course, all concerned disavow responsibility. The owners say that they have not raised their prices, and the merchants indignantly repudiate the suggestion of profit coring. That Government control has taught distributors of all classes of goods to combine for the fixing of prices we believe lo he a true statement of the case. It is supported by the facts in other trades than the coal trade; where falls in the wholesale price are followed by no corresponding falls in the retail price. Clearly, somebody is making a fortune at the expense of the general public. If cheaper sugar at a long interval is followed by a reduction of Id a lh in sweet biscuits, the concession is promptly cancelled by an increase of Id a lb. on dry biscuits. As for meat, it is stated that the Lew Zealand mutton, for which the British consumer is paying Is Sd a lb., is delivered at the docks for Ghl a lb. Nothing could more certainly foment discontent and unrest than such abuses and anomalies: and the Government which acquiesces in them will not easily be forgiven. The consequences of a world-shortage no Government can avert;,.but if the maintenance of high prices against the consumer is achieved by a combination of distributors, then it is not too much to expect that the Government will find the means to protect the community.