“FACTORS IGNORED BY PRICE TRIBUNAL”

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25878, 10 August 1949, Page 6

“FACTORS IGNORED BY PRICE TRIBUNAL”

AUCKLAND RETAILER’S COMMENT “The P-es?” Special Service AUCKLAND, August 9. “Current trends of decreasing sales and increasing expenses have been ignored by the Price Tribunal, which has decided that the retail trade is in a position to bear the reductions,” said Mr J. A. Stenberg, a member of the executive and a past president of the Auckland Retailers’ Association. “In reaching its decision the Price Tribunal has taken the 1948 accounts from a cross-section of retailers, but it was not prepared to consider the retailers’ 1949 balance-sheets.”

increases in retailers’ expenses were becoming more apparent every day. not only in the wages costs but in incidental costs such as advertising, where considerable expenses were accruing as the retailer tried to maintain his turnover figures. All these factors had been ignored by the Price Tribunal. The reductions were not a matter of free negotiation with the retail trade, said Mr Stenberg. The retailers had had no choice and it was more of a “loaded pistol at the head” action. When the wages increase was announced, it was obvious to the trade that the retailers would be made the final buffer between the manufacturer and the consumer.