Prices

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33147, 10 February 1973, Page 14

Prices

Sir.—Before the General r Election the Labour Party r said it had the solution to < the country’s inflation prob- < lem and that there was no need for the Remuneration Authority. Also. Mr Skinner jstated recenty that wage in- ! creases were not the cause i ( of inflation or rising prices.! How does the Government ( explain the fact that, after a ( !20 per cent wage increase in , catering and tearoom staff t ! wages, all prices for sand- j wiches have now soared to { 112 to 16c, depending on the ; i filling, for one slice of bread? . 1 Plain and cream cakes are ( inow 8 to 10c each Then ; (there is a rise in meat prices : (of perhaps 4 or 5c per lb. , (These increases in basic food (items will hit those on fixed ior low incomes most. These (are serious indications of the; i wage-price spiral causing initiation and all because the Labour Government removed the Remuneration Authority. —Yours, etc., C. G. MARSHALL. | I January 12, 1973. (The Prime Minister (Mrj ((Kirk) replies: “I have already I arranged with my colleague; the Minister of Trade and Inidustry for the price increases as claimed to be investigated I by his department. In accordance with the pricing surveil- ? lance exercised over these r items in terms of the Stabis lisation of Prices Regulations traders are permitted to in- , crease prices only to the exs tent of proven increases in e costs, and the Department of Trade and Industry is checke ing to ree that there has been ? no breach of this provision.”]