COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, 16 October 1917, Page 5

COST OF LIVING.

COMMITTEE'S RECOMMEN JMTIO.VS. APPOINTMENT OF FOOD CONTROLLER. By Tclegraph.-Jpfoss Association. Wellington, Las-1 Night. [ In the House to-night. Mr. Statham, chairman of the Cost of Living Commit|tep, presented the following report: j Tim Cost of Living Committee, which sot up for the purpose of inquiring into and reporting upon matters connected with the cost of living. roporU havin<* .taken tho sworn evidence of a large mun|,ber of persons, including members of | the Board of Trade, wholesale merchants, i retailers, representatives of dairy and j other industries, Wellington Trades and i Labor Council, and Governmental offileers, and makes the following reconu mendations:

1. That a food controller be forthwith .appointed, who shall have a seat in the Cabinet, and in whom shall be vested special plenary powers of administration to enable him to deal promptly from ■time to time with problem;; affecting, or which may affect, the cost of living, with power of control to regulate the prices of food supplies and any other necessaries of life.

2. That the constitution, duties and powers of the Board of Trade he amended to meet the altered conditions consequent upon the appointment of a food controller.

". That siili-section 2of .section of tlie Commercial Trusts A : of 1010, and the schedule thereto (as amended by section 1-2 of the Cost of Living Act, 1015), specifying the goods to which the Commercial Trusts Act applies, be repealed, thus making the provision;-, of the lastmentioned Act, directed against the formation of trusts and combines, to apply to any goods whatsoever. 4. That in order to protect the public from short weight and short measure, legislation be passed providing that all packages or other receptacles in which goods Jiavp been put up ready for sale, shall have clearly marked thereon the nett weight and nett quantity of goods contained therein.

5. That encouragement be given by legislation or otherwise to the formation and carrying on of co-operative societies for the distribution of commodities ,of all kinds.

<i. That, where necessary in the interests of the community, the Government should undertake the purchase wholesale and the retail distribution of goods by sale or otherwise, and that the necessary legislation be passed-to enable this to be done.

7. That vigorous steps be taken to develop the fishing industry throughout the Dominion, with a view to obtaining a plentiful supply of fish for the community.

8. That the question of overseas and local shipping being of paramount importance, the Government should take into consideration the advisability of establishing a State controlled co-opera-tive line of steamers for the carriage of the imports and exports of the Dominion, and for meeting the requirements of inter-eoastal and Island trades. !). That in order to check more effectively any cases of unfair increase in rents over pre-war rates, the provisions of part 1 of the War Legislation Amendment Act, IfllG, be amended, and that in ease? where rents have been increased in contravention of the terms of the Act, the duty be cast upon the Labor Department to investigate, and, where necessary, to bring such casos before the courts for adjustment. Fmthor, the committee is of opinion that the curtailment of the suburban train services has been a factor in increasing the rents in cities, and urges the reinstatement of such services as will enable suburban residents to attend to their occupations and reach their homes without serious difficulty. The committee is of opinion that the special plenary powers to be vested in the food controller Bhould include (inter alia); \

(a) To effectually prevent an increase in prices in any case where such proposed increase is not justified to his satisfaction, and where necessary to fix, from time to time, the mnviivuim wholesale and retail prices of goods throughout New Zealand.

(b) To provide for the regulation of retail prices of local products to consumers in New Zealand in the following mcmier, namely, by purchase et the ruling export prices of such products as may be required for local consumption, and Hie distribution thereof throughout the Dominion at such lower price-; as the food controller shall think fit, the loss hems; met out of the Consolidated Fund. (c) To make arrangements for the elimination, as far as possible, of the present unnecessary, wasteful cost of distribution.

(d) To eliminate the middlemen's profits wherever possible by bringing the consumer more nearly into contact with the producer. (c) To take the necessary steps to ensure the efficient carrying out of the "through booking" scheme for perishable foodstuffs, and of the "fruit by post" scheme

(f) To fix or otherwise deal with,the rents o& dwelling-houses under powers similar under which he may deal with the prices of goods.

I THE CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT. In presenting the report to the House, tho chairman (Mr. Statham) expressed the opinion that, after the hearing of the evidence before the committee, the Board of Trade dealt with too many departments, and it would be better if the combination, misnamed the Board of Trade, resolved itself into one person. Further facilities should be given to municipal bodies for trading purposes. Dealing with fish, he stated that the committee had come to the conclusion that something should be done by the Government in that matter. In the past ■large quantities of good fish had been dumped into the sea in order to keep the prices up. Mr. Payne:. That is done now in Wellington. Mr. Parr: It was done in Auckland. Regarding rents, Mr. Statham said the committee was of opinion that in the case of excessive charges the onus should be laid upon the Labor Department to take action against the landlord. He referred to the matter of high prices €or food, and contended that the fixing of prices was not a panacea for the trouble, as some people thought. Everything depended upon the cost of articles in the i country of origin. If costly there, no i food controller could do more than se" that undue profit was not made after they reached New Zealand. His personal opinion was that if the Government had, | at the outbreak of the war, commandeer[ed foodstuffs, prices might have been

kept down; but that opportunity had been irretrievably lost, and any attempt to force down prices now would do extreme injury to many innocent traders. AX AMENDMENT PROPOSED. Mv. Sidey said Mr. Statham had traversed the work of the committee very i'airly, but he proposed to move an amendment that the report b« referred back to the committee for the purposo of reconsidering paragraph "b" of the report, 'which 'proposed that the food controller may purchase products at the ruling export values for local consumption, and sell at a lower price if he thinks fit, the loss to be .paid out. of the Consolidated Fund. He explained there was a sharp conflict of opinion in the committee on this point, the paragraph being carried by Sto 0. He deprecated giving the controller unrestricted powers at the expense of the Consolidated Fund, and said that the evidence given before the committee favored tlio establishment of an equalisation fund, out of which losses could be adjusted. The proposal in paragraph (b) was impracticable, as to- reduce the price of meat by a penny per lb to each individual would absorb a million pounds, which was a position no Finance Minister could sanction.

Sir Joseph Ward complimented the committee on the very excellent v/ork they had accomplished in connection with the cost of living, but he proposed to warn the public against being misled by persons who irfay afterwards say that failure to reduce th« cost of living is due entirely to the failure of the Government to adopt every one of the committee's recommendations. Personally, he was amazed at the suggestion made regarding Hie calls upon the Consolidated Fund, to make up losses. He had asked the chairman if the committee had assessed these loses, and he was informed it was impossible to assess them. In his opinion. they would just a3 likely be three or four millions as one, and it was absurd to give •the food controller plenary power to incur such a loss. It would be impossible to permit a controller with such powers to work with any other Ministers. Therefore, there was no use in putting him in the Cabinet. Under such circumstances he ought to be outside the Cabinet, and given absolute power'over everything and everybody. No Government with any sense of responsibility could accept such a recommendation as that contained in clause "b," and give it the effect of legislation.

ilr. Vcitch said it. was unfair to say the report proposed to place restrictions on the producers for the benefit of the consumers. Tt was a question of limiting the war profits of the producers in order to save the consumers from the increased post or living'.

Mr. Massey said he was dead against a, monopoly, no matter which form it took. There seemed to be an opinion on the part of many people that the Government could reduce prices by a scratch of the pen. That was not the case. History had proved that the fixing of a maximum price had failed, as it caused a limitation of production. Then up went prices. He contended the term "necessaries of life" was a comprehensive one. Tt included many important articles which the Government could not possibly control. There was an extra freight of .t'lo per ton, extra insurance on account of the submarine menace, which, he was glad to say. was coming to an end. They were in a position to pay the price asked or leave them. One reason why they did not grow enough to keep the country going was that farmers preferred to grow something m'ore profitable with less risk. The Government could not control the price of bread, because this country did not grow the wheat, but hart been importing wheat from Australia. The producers certainly received remunerative prices on goods. It was a good thing (hey did so, because it was. the exports that kept the country going'. He would not see any injustice done to the producers. If the House desired that course, they would have to get another Minister, because he would not do it. Continuing, Mr. Massey said there were special arrangements under consideration by which the Government could take over meat from freezers without having to pay several months' storage. Coneluding, he said ho was not against Mr. Sidey's amendment, as there was still time' to give the whole subject further consideration.

The debate was continued by Messrs Hornsbv. McCombs, Wilkinson, Walker. Webb, Wilford, McDonald and Payne.