TRADE PRACTICES BILL

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28697, 22 September 1958, Page 15

TRADE PRACTICES BILL

Manufacturers’

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, Sept. 21.

“I am astounded at. the inconsistency of statements being made by Mr D. P. Long, president of the Public Service Association, regarding the Trade Practices Bill,” said Mr A. R. Dellpw, general secretary of the New Zealand Manufacturers’ Federation. "Mr Long is as inconsistent as it is possible for anybody to be. Yesterday he was strongly objecting to a clause in the Navy Amendment Bill giving a right to search public service employees in a naval dockyard. Today he is supporting and even asking for strengthening of the Trade Practices Bill which, by its close association with the Control of Prices Act, gives unlimited powers to search business premises, take samples and inspect all records. "Mr Long is doing a tremendous disservice both, to the members of his association and to the Government they are supposed to serve. Many of the people who will have a hand in the administration of the Trade Practices Bill are members of Mr Long’s association.

"Is it any wonder that the commercial community views this bill in its present form with considerable distrust and is insisting that administration of the trade practices legislation should be in the hands of an impartial judicial body and must be subject to a right of appeal?” asked Mr Dellow.