GOING UP: PRICES AND PROFITS

Complaint is made that a pound not© goes nowhere these days. This is an entirely erroneous impression. If the quid went nowhere it would remain with its owner; the trouble is that it goes everywhere and belongs to nobody — except the profiteer. II ti ii Soap is so dear that many small boys have gallantly clubbed together and informed their maa that they aro willing- to be washed only twice a week. There's sacrifice for you! However, it may come to using indiarubbers yet. Reference was. made m this column last week to the high prices being charged for vegetables. That there is money m market gardening is evident from the following: A Chinese gardener m Otakl planted on an area of about two acres of land 20,000 cauliflowers. These cauliflowers he has sold during the last few weeks at about 26s per sack, 24 to 26 'heads to the sack. The yellow fellow ,expects to clear a cool £1000 on his two acres. Almost knocks the rabbit-skin seller kite high. : : : : ' : : Further information as to the prodigious profits made m the U.S.A. is contained m U.S. Senate Document, 259, which is based on statements made to the secretary of the Treasury, McAdoo, by industrial corporations. Thdugh not given m the strict arithmetical per centage, the. manner m which these profits are quoted* gives a better idea of the enormity of the rakes-off. Nearly 50 per cent, of the coal companies earned profits ranging from 100 to 7856 per cent. Profits equal to 78 times its qapital were paid by one miney^Meatworks' people, fruit canners and vegetable dealers made profits as high as 3000 per cent. Woollen mills raked m profits amounting to 1700 per cent, and drapers and furniture makers, by fleecing the public, amassed profits of from 100 to 9000 per cent. Flour millers took profits up to 2000 per cent. One steel mill, whose identity for some unexplainable reason, remains secret, takes the bun by making the^ stupendous profit of 29,0,000 per cent. If these figures do not spell wholesale robbery, then there never has been a robber or a thief at any tim e m this world. Why, beside these figures, Bertie Smith's little profit on Mellin's Food fades into less than nothingness. We hear a great deal about the high. prices charged by small backbloek stores, but the owners of these stores are not always to blame as is instanced by the following letter received by "Truth" from a store owner m the King Country: "My wife runs a small shop m this: district, and last week she received a case of tobacco and cigarettes from an Auckland firm. Among the cigarettes were two boxes of packets of ; Capstan medium cigarettes, the charge for each box being marked on the invoice at £1 4s, plus 12s 6d duty. As the cigarettes are advertised at ten for sevenpence, how is a small shopkeeper going to live? The customers growl at paying ten,,pence and call us profiteers, but if we sell them at nlnepence, what do we

get out of it? The box of fifty packets costs us £1 16s 6d plus cartage, freight, and packing. Will you kindly help us to ease our burden? We are both getting on m years and the present position mean* long hours and small pay." "Truth" would advise the writer of the above letter to place the full facts before the Price Investigation Tribunals. As a member of "Truth" staff a few days ago purchased a box of the same cigarettes (50 packets of ten m the box) for 25s from a retail shop, it can be seen that someone apart from complainant la making a good thing out of faga. M I! !! On the subject of old age pensions and their struggle with high price 3, "0.A.P." writes: "How Is it that old age pensioners are supposed to be able to live on one-sixth of the amount that it takes other more wealthy people to live on?. I say our present Old Age Pensions Act Is a disgrace, and. a blot on our civilisation, and the only remedy I see for It is for the pensioners to form a union when their united voices may have more power with the authorities than at present. Our legislators ' took care that their honorariums were raised to meet the Increased cost of living, for the same reason Judge Stringer granted workera an extra bonus of 9s per week. On every side wages have been raised, bonuses given to ex-M.'sP., but the O.A.P. has to try and struggle on and exist on 16s per week. Parliament has met and transacted a lot of business — good, bad and indifferent, and amongst other measures the Government takes credit to themselves for raising the Old- Age Pension to 15s per week, which is pure bunkum, as for the past four or five years that is the sum they have been receiving, only it was 5s for war bonus and 10s for pension. The point is this: Does any sane person contend that 15s per week Is a sufficient sum to pay our pioneers who have borne the heat and burden of the day, m helping to form a new country like New Zealand?" !! !! !! "The heart of th G housewife is now rejoicing greatly, for there are signs that the H.C.L. will so6n decrease," writes a "Truth" correspondent from Sydney. "We are informed, that the price of bread will be no more than . 6d the 21b loaf, and that there will be a decrease before the end of the year. . Meat has already fallen considerably m the wholesale price, and an inquiry is being held into the retail prices which have not fallen m sympathy... Mr. Storey has the matter In hand, and we, expect great things of John. The2d fall m retail prices is not at all m proportion to the fall m wholesale prices. Mr. Dooley also tells us that he expects to sell fresh fish at Id per lb: m the near future. Under the new management tha price of trawled fish has decreased considerably, and m spite of that fact, the industry has worked off a very large debt. Pota.toes and green vegetables are also cheaper, so Mr. and Mrs. Sydney, and all the little Sydneys, are looking forward to better meals." Would that we could hold similar hopes here m N.Z.