REAL TEST.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 278, 24 November 1938, Page 11

REAL TEST.

j Nz - price control. Analysis by N.S.W. AuditorGeneral. OPEN TO SUSPICION. L'niteu Press Association.-Copyright. (Kecetved 10.30 a.m.) . , this day. In his report on the New Zealand custom of controlling commodity a»2 other prices, the New South Wales j! 0^; cral ' Mr - 'John S pence, tii ivn' n 1 , ° P ." UOn that "dminiscannot V ,1,t1 ;; 1 ' . I>m ' es 8,1,1 iidu.strv ji'tnnot lie altogether free from sus- | p'cion ot political influence. j Ibe report, which was tabled in the that w 'V' A :** mU, y '""t '"gilt, states * prices cannot be kept down permanently in the face of rising costs i • V had acted as a, corrective to execsa.nd as a «i«*««.nt to I loltation of the consumer. "The impression I formed is that the "... ml „f „,d i"VJw ,i r!"v l . leate '" a "- V difliculties for f its Iff "V" ' a " d t,,Ut the r ™ l tost "f its effectiveness and its value is still to come," says Mr. Notice. "The establishment and maintenance of machinery tor price control so that it jiinv be available for use when required control' f*' b " t !f the o ''.i ect 've is the control of prices only, the machinery should be used mainly to regulate the puces of necessaries and should be put in motion only when it is demonstrated that (lOveiiinient intervention is advisable 111 the public interest."

Mr. Spence added that the activities of the New Zealand Industries and Commerce department had served as a brake on increasing prices, but under the influence or lusher wages, shorter hours and more liberal working conditions both costs and prices had undoubtedly risen. On the other hand the machinery for exclusive purchase and sale of flour had worked effectively and efficiently. He commented u|>on the elimination of competition in the milling trade, and expressed the opinion that the system at present employed should reduce selling and distribution costs and also keep down the price of flour.