PRICE CONTROL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 10 June 1939, Page 9

PRICE CONTROL

REGULATIONS IN FULL OPERATION. PERIOD OF GRACE EXPIRES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The regulations requiring price increases for prescribed, goods and services to be first notified to the Price Investigation Tribunal, gazetted last week, came into full operation yesterareday. The tribunal, whose members are Mr Justice Hunter, chairman, and Mr H. L. Wise, advisory officer of the Department of Industries and Commerce. has the powers of judicial inquiry and investigation under the Board of Trade Act.

Persons engaged in selling the goods prescribed in the schedule to the regulations cannot sell them at a price above the ruling price on June 2 without first giving notice to the tribunal of the higher rate to be charged and of the reasons for the increase.

In a statement when the regulations were gazetted, the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr Sullivan, said that in. order to give the commercial community reasonable warning of the making of the regulations, they had been allowed seven days from the date of the enactment of the regulations in which to give notice of any price increases. This period of seven days' grace applied only to the first week in which the regulations were in operation. Thereafter notification must be given before any price increase was made.

It is not known yet how many applications have been received by the tribunal.

Price increases may be made before the tribunal’s finding is reached provided that from yesterday notification is given the tribunal of the increases before they take effect. Firms and individuals acting in that way, of course, take the risk of the increases subsequently being considered unreasonable by the tribunal. In that event the tribunal maj - recommend what action shall be taken to get the parties to bring the prices back to what is considered a reasonable figure. Penalties are provided under the Board of Trade Act.