PRICE CONTROL

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25309, 8 October 1947, Page 9

PRICE CONTROL

GARMENT INDUSTRY’S ATTITUDE PRODUCTION SAID TO BE HAMPERED From Our Own Reporter HANMER SPRINGS, October 7. “The garment manufacturing industry has oeen operating under a close system of price control for so long that the filling-in of Price Tribunal forms and the conducting of negotiations with the tribunal have almost oecome a regular part of our business,” said Mr J. J. Delahunt (vice-president) in his report to the New Zealand garment manufacturers’ conference this evening. “This is just the danger that must be guarded against, and it is regrettable to note the intention of the Government, in introducing the present Con- X trol of Prices Bill, to constitute the Price Tribunal as a permanent part of our national economy. “It should be our aim to increase production of all lines to the stage when the supply equates the demand, when competition on the basis of quality and value will once again determine the prices for-our goods, and the need for any other artificial form of price fixation will automatically disappear. “Throughout the year the council has maintained its strong opposition to the present system of restrictive price ceilings, many of which have had the effect of forcing essential lines out of production, and others which impose a bar on the amount of workmanship which can be incorporated in our manufacture. It is unfortunate that the Price Tribunal and the Minister have not yet seen fit to act on the council’s recommendations by abolishing ceilipg prices. It is obvious that if the ceilings were removed, existing prices could not be increased by one penny without the approval of the Price Tribunal, but the recognition of the true costs of production by the tribunal would assist in bringing some essential lines back into production. There can be no suggestion that the cost of higher wages can be absorbed by the great majority of our members, a iact which the tribunal has recognised, and by . the time this report is read group applications will be in the hands of the Price Tribunal for a compensating adjustment in prices,” said Mr Delahunt.