BRANCH FORMED

Waikato Times, Volume 124, Issue 20820, 2 June 1939, Page 8

BRANCH FORMED

CONSUMERS’ LEAGUE

ADDRESS IN HAMILTON DISPARITY IN PRICES The position of “the forgotten man” as the person who did the buying in the community was presented to a representative gathering of Waikato citizens in Hamilton last night, when Mr S. J. E. Closey, Dominion organiser of the New Zealand Consumers’ Leiipue, addressed a public meeting on behalf of the league. Mr R. Young, of the Waikato County Council, was voted to the chair. The movement, the speaker said in opening, had spread very rapidly and extensively in this Dominion. There were 53 branches already formed, covering most of the South Island and the southern portion of the North Island, in England and America and even in Germany the movement was very strong and was of great assistance to Governments. “The gap between prices and purchasing power has been developing for several years. It has been partially closed by Government borrowing-, so that we have built up a national debt of £320,000,000, but that is merely handing on the problem to the next generation, besides necessitating taxation to pay interest in the meantime,” said Mr Closey. Household Commodities The speaker produced a housewife's basket and exhibited a number of household commodities. He invited comparison of the prices in New Zealand and in Belfast, as follows: — N.Z. Belfast Tinned peaches .1/7 8 Tinned apricots .1/8 7 Tinned salmon . 1/5 4£ Candles 10 2* Biscuits 10 3i Matches 8 4 The peaches and apricots were Australian, and the salmon Canadian. In addition Mr Closey exhibited a pair of children’s shoes priced at 3s 9d in London and 12s in New Zealand, and quoted the prices of schoolboys’ knickers as being 3£ times locally the price they were in Great Britain. "In the matter of consumers’ organisations we in New Zealand are nearly 40 years behind the times,” Mr Closey declared. “In the United States the consumers have secured standardised qualities at standardised prices, and the same thing has happened in Denmark. In those countries a firm selling goods below a certain standard is visited with an injunction from the courts. There is no reason why the same thing should not be accomplished here. Prices could be reduced by 25 per cent almost at once. Aims of tho League The aim of the Consumers' League in the Waikato was to establish a branch in every town and to apply pressure to see that the housewife was not exploited. The question was, what could be done? As a beginning the consumers could concentrate on the fact that in Australia oranges were 4d each and in New Zealand 4d each. The same serious disparity occurred in other essential foodstuffs. It was for the consumer to point these things out and to educate public opinion to rectify them and to resist further imposts. Another aim of the Consumers’ League was to ensure a greater measure of commercial honesty by a series of analytical examinations of goods offered to the public, said Mr Closey. Dealing with taxation, the speaker said the artificially increased price of goods and services was due to the heavy taxation paid by the consumer, as part of the price of the goods he had to buy. As an example, sugar could be much cheaper in New Zealand, also coffee, cocoa, boots, shoes and silken goods. Concluding, Mr Closey made an appeal to women to join the league. It was the women who had to balance the household budget and were most acquainted with the consumers’ point of view. Non-party Organisation Answering a question, the speaker assured bis audience that the league was non-political. In reply to a question stressing the importance of farming in the Dominion, Mr Glosev said the establishment of a Consumers’ League would provide the farmer with a powerful ally, which would assist him to secure that measure of justice to which he was entitled.

After several oilier questions had been answered it was resolved to form a series of branches of the Consumers’ League in the Waikato, and to hold a mass meeting in Hamilton at an early date. The following provisional committee was set up. with power to add:—Mr P. 11. Watts (chairman), Mrs M. Parlane (secretary , Messrs A. 11. Morgan, D. Bruce, \Y. H. Hagigard and Garth Hall. Mr Closey was accorded a vote of thanks. A number were enrolled as members of the league.