H.P. REPORT DRAFTED

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31307, 1 March 1967, Page 3

H.P. REPORT DRAFTED

(From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, Feb. 28.

The report of an exhaustive inquiry into hire purchase and credit trading which has taken almost three years to complete will soon be presented to the Government by the Tariff and Development Board.

Public hearings began in June, 1964, and the report is now in draft form for vetting by the four members of the board making the inquiry, led by Mr J. P. D. Johnsen. Whether the report will be

made public will be for the Government to decide. Two interim reports have been published, however. The Government adopted the first, which recommended that trading banks participate in the share holdings of finance companies. The second dealt with door-to-door salesmen and their methods and formed the basis of the Door-to-Door Sales Bill, introduced into Parliament last year. The major provision of the bill was a seven-day “cooling-.

off” period in which the customer could cancel any agreement signed with a door-to-door salesman. The bill lapsed but may be revived this year. During the public hearings between June and October, 1964, more than 450 pages of written and legal submissions were placed before the committee. Oral evidence amounted to 1448 pages of single-spaced foolscap typing. This 6in thick document can be purchased by anyone for £3 15s.

Government departments, the Reserve Bank, the Hire Purchase Association, the Consumer Council, the Presbyterian Church, economists, finance companies and door-to-door sales companies were among the 26 bodies who gave submissions. MORE INFORMATION

"In many cases the parties were requested to supply information additional to their submissions,” said the secretary of the board (Mr P. A. T. Abraham). “Since the hearings the board has continually carried out detailed investigations into a variety of aspects of the inquiry, and special staff have been seconded to assist in this work.” Lest it should appear that the board has been idle in the last three years, Mr Abraham said that 26 other public inquiries had been carried out in that time.

They included the major wool and fibres inquiry begun in 1964 and concluded in August, 1966.