THE POOR PUBLIC!

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 91, 20 April 1915, Page 7

THE POOR PUBLIC!

LETTER FROM THE FOODSTUFFS COMMISSION. NO ESCAPE FROM EXPLOITATION. Pee Pbesb Association. Wellington, April 20. As the-result of negotiations between the Premier and Mr. Stringer, chairman of the Foodstuffs Commission, the latter lias agreed to arrange if possible for an early sitting of the Commission to investigate cases of alleged exploitation. In a letter to the Premier, Mr. Stringer says that the Commission invited members of the public to formulate any charges of exploitation within their knowledge in order that inquiries might be made, but no such charge have been brought under his notice,

The letter concludes: "The Commission have already reported so far as imported foodstuffs are concerned, and inquiries have satisfied them that no exploitation has taken place with regard to foodstuffs produced in the Dominion. The increased prices for these articles ruling locally, according to evidence brought before the Commission, are in sympathy with and are the direct natural consequences of increased prices being paid for export purposes. If this is so, then, unless the Government impose some restriction upon the export oi these articles, which seems quite impracticable, it seems difficult to see how the public can escape the payment of higher prices."