PEPPER SPECULATION.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 55, Issue 126, 9 March 1935, Page 5

PEPPER SPECULATION.

ENGLAND'S NAME DAMAGED. ALLEGATIONS IN THE COMMONS. (United Press Association— LONDON, March 7. In the House of Commons Mr D. R. Grenfell (Labour) moved a reduction of the Civil Services vote in order to direct attention to the recent specula T 'tions in pepper, shellac and tin, declaring they included spicy elements,. sticky episodes, glittering pages and reckless exploits. . . . Alarm over the recent affair winch led to the failure of several solid and respectable "firms was not 'confined to England, said Mr Grenfell. Foreign newspapers had readily printed the news of it. creating an impression abroad that some English "Stavisky affair" had been unearthed, which was exceedingly bad for Great Britain's reputation Those who took part in the attempted pepper corner had thought that an increase in the retail price of gd v an ounce would be negligible to t>he con : sumer, but it would have meant a profit of £1,500,000 to them, which was not to be sneezed at. (Laughter.) Mr Grenfell revealed that Great Britain was the world's largest consumer of pepper. Her stocks had multiplied ten times in 1934 compared with 1932,. .but the corner- had 1 failed owing to the world's enormous pepper harvest.

It was well known that the people who had speculated in pepper hud also dealt in shellac and tin. A corner in tin was impossible, but if the price Avere raised consumers would have to resort to substitutes. Mr A. M. Samuel (Unionist) supporting Mr Grenfell, expressed, the opinion that gambling in commodities was helped by excessively cheap money. The Treasury should inquire whether this had not' gone too far and defeated itself whether it had merely encouraged speculation instead of trade. The Board of trade should inquire how far the limited liability law was permitting itself to bo used as a shield for disreputable transactions. The President of the Board,of Trade (Mr .W. Runciman) replying, said he was most concerned to maintain the reputation of the City of London for clean dealing. People had every reason to bo disturbed. There must be an investigation and it was only a question of what form it should take. It was not easy to define legitimate and illegitimate speculations. He emphasised that the official Receiver, who is now conducting an inquiry into the operations of the pepper pool, had the widest powers and was one of the most fearless ■ officials in London. Therefore there was no needi for misgivings regarding the tribunal, its scope and methods and until all this usual machinery was exhausted there would be no need for any further inquiry. Mr Runciman said it was believecfthat the root of the present trouble was the absence of a settling day. Baltic Exchange, the centre of he world's grain trade, which was so democratically conducted that even the clerks on the floor were represented on its committee. If there had been a pepper market like this, trouble could not have arisen. ";,. He was determined to sec that the investigations went to the utmost limit, Mr Runciman continued, and he was going to get the whole truth out. On the "Continent the term "Stavisky had been used in connection with the trouble. Stavisky meant corruption in public life. It'was necessary that it should'be known abroad that as far as the Government and members of the House of Commons were concerned there had not been a whisper of sus-. picion that a single individual was mixed up in the affair. (Cheers.) /