PRICE TRIBUNAL SITTINGS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 68, Issue 139, 24 March 1948, Page 6

PRICE TRIBUNAL SITTINGS

“PUBLIC AS GENERAL RULE” (P.A.) WELLINGTON, March 23. The reluctance of the Price Tribunal to hear evidence in camera except when absolutely necessary was stated to-day by Judge Hunter in the course of the hearing of an application by the Colonial Sugar Refining Company, Ltd. for an increase in the wholesale price of sugar. Objection had been taken by the company’s counsel and auditor to the presentation in public of certain accounts and other financial documents and argument was given by them in favour of their submission.

“We should not be over-scrupu-lous,” said Judge Hunter. “Companies have got to recognise that the Price Tribunal is operating under an act of Parliament which says that as a general rule it shall sit in public. It may sit in private, but unless there is some very good reason for excluding information from the public it should not do so. We have had one or two cases where arguments seemed to be a little thin as to why details should not be made public and I don’t want you to put forward any objections unless they are really serious.” After a short adjournment the tribunal, announced that the reasons ad-vanced-on behalf of the company were insufficient, to justify the tribunal’s making an order that the documents produced be treated as private. An order was made, however, that certain inforpiation be not published.