Freeze breaches to come before courts

Press, 30 December 1976, Page 3

Freeze breaches to come before courts

PA Hamilton Five companies face prosecution after the Department of Trade and Industry’s investigations into alleged violations of the Price-Freeze Regulations, which will be lifted at the week-end.

The Minister of Trade and Industry (Mr AdamsSchneider) said in Wellington yesterday that the cases would be considered for court action by the department, which would refer them to the Crown Law Office. Mr Adams-Schneider urged consumers to notify the department of any other apparent breaches of the regulations. which would continue to insist that most manufacturers raise their prices only once every six months, even after the freeze ended on December 31. The freeze had extended this six-month price review

period by four months and a half, and rises after January 1 should be phased in gradually Mr Adams-Schneider said.

Although there had been criticism that the department had not policed the regulations, it had investigated scores of complaints, he said. The department was prepared to investigate complaints, and prosecute if a breach was blatant, Mr Adams-Schneider said.

The five companies facing prosecution have not been identified, but a department spokesman said that complaints alleging breaches of the freeze regulations had been arriving at a rate of about 30 each week. More than 550 had been received since the freeze was introduced in August, the spokesman said. Department investigators had found that more than 130

iof the complaints were justified, and prices on the relevant goods were lowered. The department had also granted 54 applications for price increases during the freeze, under the hardship provisions of the regulations. The companies and non-profit-making organisations granted the increases had to show that their future was threatened by the price clamp, the spokesman said. Although the price freeze will soon be lifted, the general wage freeze will continue until May. The Wage Hearing Tribunal will restrict general wage orders, and under the present wage-freeze regulations, industrial agreements and awards being renegotiated at present must run for a minimum term of 12 months.

Thus, the earliest date for an increase in base rates will be early October, 1977.