THE COST OF LIVING.

Taranaki Daily News, 24 April 1920, Page 10

THE COST OF LIVING.

IS mmG wm \ •t ' -1 ?VORK OF ' '] ' tV. Right Hon. the Prime Minister i stated last week that he had watched carefully the trend of public opinion respecting increased cost of living, and ' wanted to take the opportunity of letting ; the publio know the action taken by the Government during recent months. The Government had been accused of un- ' sympathetic administration of the Board of Trade Act of last session. The Prime Minister said it was necessary to reiterate that the Government was determined to do all in its power to check profiteering, and his action in appointing four district tribunals was proof of this determination. In the personnel of the tribunals, regard had been paid by the Government to their special fitness to conduct such inquiries and to warrant the confidence of the public. The gentlemen appointed were representative of all classes of the community, and were showing an earnest desire to assist the Government in carrying out the intention of the existing legislation.' The Government now looked to the public to do their share in making the tribunals of the maximum use by bringing under their notice all matters regarding unreasonably high prices, which the tribunals would investigate and report upon. The tribunals had now been in operation for three weeks, and the arrangement made was that they should meet on three days in each week, but experience had shown that they would probably have to sit much more frequently in order to cope with the amount of work proffering. Numerous complaints as to unreasonably high prices had been brought before the tribunals, covering tea, furniture, hardware, meat, coal, tobacco and cigarettes, sugar, agricultural implements, cutlery, binder twine, thread, medicines, seeds, flour, oatmeal, footwear, benzine, leather, and house rents. Accountants had been attached to each of the tribunals for the purpose of making the necessary inquiries and investigations. . For the purpose of investigations concerning articles with relation to which women's special knowledge was required, Mr. Massey stated that he had approved of the services of women being employed, and it was probable in this connection that the expert inspectors attached to the Labor Department would be utilised. NAMES OF COMPLAINANTS. He wished specially to stress that the names of persons making complaints were not disclosed by the tribunals in connection with inquiries. The procedure usually followed was for the inquiry instituted by. any complaint to be, in the first place, made by the accountant, and following this the person against whom the complaint was made was generally called upon to appear before the tribunal. The result of the inquiry was then communicated to the complainant, who was advised of the opinion of the tribunal respecting the complaint. As was naturally to be expected, in a large number of cases the result of the inquiry was sufficient to satisfy the complainant that the charge of unreasonable prices could not be maintained, but in cases where the tribunal considered that action should be taken, each action would take the form of either—(a) A demand for a refund in case, where the overcharge was obviously due to a mistake; (b) Publication of facts for general information; (c) Recommendation to the Board of Trade that proceedings bo instituted. Several of the tribunals had reported that cases had been brought before their notice dealing with excessive rents, Mr. Massey slated that although these cases did not at present come within the scope of the Act, he had asked the tribunals to inquire into cases of sales of house property at excessive prices, and to bring under the notice of the Labor Department cases where excessive rents appeared to be charged, as the legislation already existed enabling the Labor Department to take action. Prior to the establishment of the tribunals, the Board of Trade had instructed the various Crown solicitors to institute proceedings under section 32 of the Board of Trade Act for charging unreasonably high prices. One case had already been heard in Wellington, and other cases were pending in Hawera, Lawrence, Dunedin, Cbristehureh, New Plymouth, and Auckland. 1 OTHER REGULATIONS COMING. The foregoing statements had relation particularly to the administration of section 32 of the Act, which covers specific cases of the charging of unreasonably high prices. The power was, however, provided in section 20 of the Act to make regulations providing, inter alia, for the prevention or suppression of monopolies, the establishment of fixed or maximum prices, and the general regulation of prices. Regulations under this section had already been drafted and were at present under consideration by the Government. NECESSARY COMMODITIES. Mr. Massey pointed out that the work of the Board of Trade had been considerably relieved by the establishment of the profiteering tribunals enabling the board to give time to the control of distribution and price of essentiol commodities in short supply. The control exercised by the board was in the nature of ration and pride of essential commodities petrol, wheat, flour, cement, and sugar and this control had been exercised without undue interference with ordinary trade and buying methods. In all these lines prices had been controlled, the board following the policy that a shortage did not necessarily justify an increase in price such as might have obtained had the ordinary economic law qf supply and demand been the sole factor. The Board of Trade had in hand the following work:— PETROL. The control of the distribution of petrol throughout New Zealand. The scheme of control involves:— (1) Compilation of statistics from time to time showing stocks in hand and afloat. (2) Distribution of stocks throughout New Zealand. (3) Allocation of stocks to various users.

(4) Control of prices. (5) Supervision of, the work of the. petrol in the Tftricwt centres. j ' j * WHEAT, FLOUR, AND BREAD* i Thejtfk AMkk£i^!!Mdiyl"tva,ln^BH^BHHfiH^ d its fIJWHr' an-im-.pjriOi? cluty'dmfTFtaken ly Hie Boavd \ih/'* vn J unction wit;n * fte emtrol of the j,i'-e,'sAit',\a»d distribution or wheat grown in Nw Zealand. Similarly the board controlled tVe price of flour and its distribution, antf special steps bad been and were 'being taken to control hoarding for speculative purposes. In regard to bread, the board was engaged in a comprehensive investigation into the •cost of manufacture, cost of distribution, the receipts from sale of bread, and the net profits. Every baker in the Dominion was to supply this information, and the work of checking, dissecting, and compiling would be considerable, but would furnish the Government with more information in regard to the bakery business than had ever before been obtained. WOOLLEN GOODS. The board was engaged in a comprer hensive inquiry respecting the priceg of woollen goods, and was now investigating the accounts of the various woollen companies of the Dominion. When this inquiry was completed it was proposed to extend it to warehouses, tailors, and retail shops. As the result of this inquiry much valuable information should be obtained, and the board should be able to check any undue increases in price in regard to locally manufactured clothing. CEMENT. Owing to the shortage of supplies, due mainly to the abnormal demands for building purposes and to the shortage of output resulting from insufficient supplies of coal, the Government found it necessary to inaugurate, through, the Board of Trade, a system of allocating such cement as was available to the more essential users in order that the housing scheme of the Government and urgent necessary works should not be unduly hampered. A scheme of distribution had been agreed upon to prevent duplication of orders and to assure supplies reaching essential users. This scheme had come into operation this week, and should allay the dissatisfaction that at present existed in regard to distribution. The work of finding shipping, not only for cement supplies, but for other essential commodities, had been placed upon the board, as the board was often the best authority to judge which parts of New Zealand were most urgently in need of supplies, whether it be cement, benzine, flour, or sugar, SUGAR. As was well known, the Board of Trade was allocating available supplies of sugar to the respective industries using sugar and conserving as much as possible for household use. The board had under preparation a comprehensive scheme of control so as to check duplication of orders through merchants and ensure fair and equitable treatment to consumers generally. HIDES AND LEATHER. A control over the export of hides had been exercised for some considerable time and the Government had recently had a conference.wth representatives of all par-1 ties concerned, and issued regulations with the object of ensuring that while producers of hides would receive the market price for their product the tanners of New Zealand could not, as a result of export, be in the position of bavin" insufficient hides for their requirements, Following the increase made by tannei'3 in leather prices, the Government had instructed the board to institute an inquiry under the following heads.— (1) Whether the tanners were buying prior to the lifting of the embargo hides in excess of the gazetted rates, and if so, 1 the conditions of purchase and from ! whom they were purchased. ' (2) Stocks in hand immediately prior to the raising of the embargo; if below ; normal how far short this was of normal requirements. 1 (3) Date tanners increased prices of [ leather and date they commenced using the higher priced hides. (4) Whether the margin of profit under embargo conditions was reasonable, and whether the margin of profit under present conditions is reasonable. 1 Questioned as to the effect of the increased prices of leather upon the standard boot scheme, Mr. Massey stated that this did not mean the abandonment of the scheme. The Board of Trade was at present engaged in getting the several samples re-eosted and would fix ne,w prices based on the extra cost of leather, materials, and labor since the [ scheme was first established. It was still . possible to buy standard boots in Wel- : lington at the bid prices. TIMBER. [ A control had for some two years past ' been exercised over the prices and ex- ' port of timber. An impression seemed to 1 be abroad that the shortage of supplies of bulding timber at the present time L was due to the export of large quantities " to Australia. Mr. Massey stated that he had from time to time supplied figures to the .Press showing this to be incorrect, and he could assure the public that at the present time very considerably less : timber was being exported than at any - other time in the history of the industry, i The shortage was entirely due to the ab--1 normal demand for the erection of build- • 'nigs. The export of building timber was i taking place only from the West Coast of ! the South Island, and from ports in the ■ extreme north of the Auckland province, s and to a great extent to> utilise space on coal boats returning to Australia, as it - was essential that back freight for such ' vessels should be supplied. J INCREASES INEVITABLE. Admittedly in the case of the commodities referred to in the foregoing statement, prices had increased when compared with those ruling in pre-war days, but in every case justification hid to be ■shown to the board for the increases, and evidence in support of such increases was in the possession of the board. Whilst 1 the board could exercise control over essential commodities manufactured in the - Dominion, aird over the prices charged 3 for same hy merchants, there was considerable difficulty in controlling the very l large number of commodities that had 1 to be imported. The prices of these imported commodities—including dried t fruits, tinned fish, tea, cocoa, coffee, rice, and other grocery lines, tobacco, 9 hardware, paint, woollen and cotton jonds. linoleums and furnshings, crock-

ery, chemicals s'td ding's, Jr! ar|iffc«;j manures—were ui-i.i,u>dM,l \ll;UM|] this' landed «•*>., -A-A nil i'i : nnr,<i!(. i,i t'tK- C■■■Wi of dii' /ncflHk ' i .distributors *;» -sew Zea- '"' l • J'-ble. Mr. Massey stated tha'Jßß'eMtfn.Md fo«'e« j'ropared for the Government by ;i.e board, showing the increase in these imported* goods, whiA dMttxlfted, taking the price in 1013 as equalling the index number of 1000, in 191. r > the number rose to 1210; in 1017 to 1889, and in 1919 to 2238. A FAVORED COUNTRY. Mr. Massey stated in coneluson that he had had the opportunity of studying conditions abroad at first hand, and his feeling was that in New Zealand the people were infinitely better off than the popuation of other countries. The position in New Zealand undoubtedly called for close watching, but the forces affecting prices were often beyond effective control here, and control, unless properly exercised, might mean famine in the future. The following table showed that we still held the most favorable position with respect to food prices as compared with other countries:— Table showing the percentage increases in cost of living, between July, 1914, and the months shown, in various countries:— Comparisons ' between Increase Country. July, 1914, and for cent India (Calcutta) November, 1919 51 Spain March, 19J9 57 Australia December,' 1919 58 New Zealand March, 1920 02 South Africa November, 1919 07 United States November, 1919 88 Canada November, 1919 92 Holland (Amsterdam) November, 1919 102 Denmark July, 1919 112 U. Kingdom January, 1920 130 Switzerland September, 1919 . 141 France (Paris) December, 1919 185 Norway November, 1919 197 Sweden December, 1919 207 Belgium (Brussels) October, 1919 240 Italy (Rome) November, 1919 240 Note.—The increase in New Zealand between July, 1914, and December, 191.1, was 55 per eent., which .would place the Dominion second on the list as at the end of 1919. Everyone in commerce knew the extreme difficulty in securing supplies, and at no time in ,the Dominion's history was the demand for imported goods so great and the shelves so bare. The Government would do its d*ty in facing the position fearlessly, but it had to be careful and just. He would again stress that the Government had given every possible opportunity to the public of having full investigation made into all cases in which they considered unreasonable profits were being made, and the Government looked to them to exercise their powers in this direction, as without the assistance of the public the full benefit of the legislation recently passed could not be realised.