PRICE CONTROL

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 237, 6 October 1945, Page 6

PRICE CONTROL

VEXATIOUS DELAYS

DECENTRALISATION URGED

"Decentralisation of the existing system of price control is a reform which would be welcomed by retailers and public alike," states an editorial in The New Zealand Draper, official organ of the New Zealand Retailers' Federation. "That the Government has ignored all entreaties for this change is indicative of a foolishly stubborn adherence to a plan which has signally failed to accomplish its purpose. "This is one of the weaknesses of bureaucracy. Changes are made with bewildering alacrity when State officials find that their own work or methods are delayed or frustrated, but when inconveniences are suffered by the public officialdom is too frequently deaf to complaints and reluctant to make any change. "Vexatious delays in getting decisions as to prices have been suffered since the price control system was introduced, and, with the passing of time the work of the Price Tribunal in Wellington has increased progressively, with the result that requests for decisions on scores of items have grown to seemingly unmanageable proportions. The Price Tribunal in Wellington, working conscientiously and thoroughly, wading through a mass of painstakingly compiled detail, has found it impossible to keep pace with the volume of work pouring in from all parts of New Zealand. "This stupidly inept state of affairs could be remedied almost overnight by the appointment of officers in each of the principal centres, with full authority to fix prices after a thorough investigation. Where necessary, ,the central authority in Wellington could, on appeal, review and revise faulty decisions. The system of price-fix-ing, operating over an enormously wide range of commodities and'items in everyday demand, has now been in action for so long that there must be more than ample precedent, in easily tabulated form, to ensure reasonably smooth working on a provincial or district basis." The reluctance of the Government to meet the demand for abolition of the bottle-neck in Wellington is the more difficult to understand when cases have been quoted where reiailers have been unable to sell goods on their shelves for two to three months for lack of a decision by the Price Tribunal, adds the journal. Particularly in the clothing business are such delays to be deplored. Austalia is managing things in a much more businesslike fashion. There prices are fixed on the spot. A. "prices branch," with full powers, operates in each of the main centres. In Melbourne there is a staff of 180. Decisions are given within 24 hours. Professor Copland, Federal Price Controller, has power to co-opt expert advisers, and in consequence the machinery of the system moves smoothly and efficiently. New Zealand could well copy this system and so short-circuit a creaking circumbendibus that would be funny if it were not so irritating.