BLACK MARKETS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 17 August 1942, Page 4

BLACK MARKETS

WIDESPREAD THROUGHOUT AUSTRALIA - NATION-WIDE HUNT STARTED. SOME OBNOXIOUS PRACTICES. (Special Australian Correspondent.) SYDNEY, August 9. • Australia has coined a new word, to describe an obnoxious wartime personality. The world is “blacketeer.” Racketeering and black marketing are widespread throughout the Commonwealth. Newspapers publish lists of commodities in. which illegal trade is done at inflated prices. Gaol penalties for offenders are demanded. “The black marketer- is a deadly enemy within the gate,” says the Sydney “Daily Telegraph.” “He is out to exploit his country and his people. He is the worst kind of war profiteer — without conscience, patriotism, or scruples. He is worse than the outside enemy, because he is disloyal even to his own country.”

The Prices Commission has promised a nation-wide hunt to expose black market practices and punish offenders. As a start' the public has been asked to report any instances of goods in short supply being offered for sale at excessive prices. But, so far, though there have been many complaints, members of the public have been unwilling to give the evidence which would enable prosecutions to be made. “The price is too high, but it seems silly to cut off my only source of supply by giving information,” is a typical answer made to Prices Commission officials.

Petrol racketeering is prevalent. Taxi-drivers say that unlimited quantities can be bought at 4s 7d a gallon, with illegal coupons. Boot polish, its price fixed at 5d and 6d a tin, commands a ready sale at lid and Is. When an investigating reporter told a Sydney shopman that his price was too high, he received the reply: “You needn’t take it if you don’t want it. There are plenty of others who will pay the price.” Racketeeers are capitalising on the shortage of boot polish by making a “bootleg mixture” of floor polish and staining. It is sold for more than the fixed retail price of good boot polish. Razor blades and tobacco are two other scarce commodities in which racketeering is rampant. Many chemists and tobacconists will sell single blades only if the customer buys something else as well . In hotels, pedlars offer inferior razor blades, usually sold at 6d a packet for Is 6d. “You have to pay what you are asked or grow a beard,” remarked one customer. Black markets have sprung up in the sale of coupon-free clothing. Some shops have also sold clothing at less than the stipulated coupon value. Several stores have been warned that drastic penalties will be imposed if offences are repeated.

Complaints are made of black marketing at the municipal markets. Potatoes are the favourite “squeeze” line. A Sydney restauranteur said that during the shortage he had paid 15s a cwt. above the fixed price of 19s a cwt. Each docket showed the purchase of so many bags of potatoes at 19s, plus a corresponding number of bushels of peas or other vegetables at 15s a bushel. The latter goods were not delivered,. their price represented the black marketer’s fee.

Black marketing in ration coupons has also been alleged. It has not been disclosed whether the coupons are forgeries or if they are genuine coupons obtained dishonestly. The latter is thought to be most likely.