ABOLITION OF DUTY ON NECESSARIES OF LIFE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1212, 22 August 1911, Page 6

ABOLITION OF DUTY ON NECESSARIES OF LIFE.

Sir—The member for Masterton is to be congratulated on bringing down bis •Abolition of Duties on Food Bill as a stepping-stone towards the solution ot keeping the necessaries of life at' a fair standard. In my opinion, however, the abolition ol duty on articles js not by itself sufficient, there should be some provision made in the Bill where various articles of food-tea, butter, sugar, flour, meat, etc.—should not be_ allowed to be sold over a certain price. Unless some provision is made in this direction the object of the Bill will be defeated, for the reason that the abolition of the duty will only benefit the wholesale traders, merchants, etc., who will get all the benefits, while the consumers as usual will have to pay the prices as at present. If Mr. Hogg could only draft his Bill to work in conjunction with a Tarifi Bill or board as suggested by Mr. Fisher, then there would be something definite to' work on, the position would then be that the duty, after being taken off the necessaries of life, the Tariff Bill or board would be hot up to fix certain prices on each article—this is what is and has been wanted for years and years. The Government ha™ in previous years half-heartedly tried to solve the present difficulty by removing the duty, etc., but who got the bcuelit of it? Certainly not the mas=RS. With reference to the price of butter Mr. Hogg stated that there was no shortago of butter if one had the money to pay for it. Exactly, this sums up the position to a nicety. It is always recognised Hint butter is scarcer in winter, but there is always plenty of it available for all that. It is to be hoped that Messrs. Hogg and Fisher and members of Parliament generally will be successful in introducing legislation this session to effectively deal with the various rings, etc., that aro at present existing. Thanking you,—l am, etc., • LIVE AND LET LIVE.