BLACK MARKETS IN BRITAIN

Press, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 23586, 13 March 1942, Page 6

BLACK MARKETS IN BRITAIN

+ DRASTIC NEW CONTROL MEASURES LONDON, March 11. Drastic measures are to be taken to control black markets in Britain. In the House of Commons, the Home Secretary (Mr Herbert Morrison) said that the maximum gaol term for summary convictions had been increased from three to 12 months, and the term for indictable offences from two years’ to 14 years’ penal servitude. Fines had been made very much heavier. New regulations had been designed to deal with the man behind the scenes, who organised and profited by illegal transactions, and who was so far behind the scenes that he could rarely be brought to justice. These persons would be required to explain their conduct in court. Anyone receiving a .commission from an illicit transaction in controlled articles would have to prove in court that he did not know the transaction was illegal. Later, in a broadcast, Mr Morrison said: “These pests must be scourged from the community. They are now liable to 14 years’ and a fine equal to three times the value of the goods involved, plus a sum which the Court .decides was the profit derived from the transaction. That is more than the biggest, penalty for sabotage, but not more than the situation requires.” Mr Morrison attacked buyers in the black market as a shameful blot upon the splendid war-time spirit of the great majority. Even .small buyers showed a spirit identical with that of the big buyers, who were buying to make a profit from the nation’s need in the hour of peril.