CARDBOARD PRICE

Dominion, Volume 33, Issue 146, 15 March 1940, Page 6

CARDBOARD PRICE

Whakatane Paper Mills Case FURTHER HEARING Company Asks Tribunal To Alter Computation At the request of Mr. H. P. Richmond, counsel for Whakatane Paper Mills, Ltd., which recently applied for permission to increase its cardboard prices, the Price Investigation Tribunal, under the presidency of Mr. Justice Hunter, sat again in Wellington yesterday to hear further submissions by counsel. The application was to the effect that the tribunal should alter one of the bases of computation of the price, and it was contended that unless some alterations were made, the company could not carry on. Reviewing certain parts o£ the evidence, Mr. Richmond said the figure of 12,500 tons annual output, fixed by the tribunal, was beyond the reach of the company, and submitted that the test should be the likely volume of sales. Dr. N. A. Foden, for the Crown, argued that the tribunal should not alter its findings. If it did it would mean the whole matter would have to begone into again, and witnesses would have to be recalled. It would be undesirable in principle to alter the figure which the tribunal had arrived ar after a long inquiry. Taking the volume of sales was not a proper approach to costing the product, as it was not possible to say with any certainty what the sales were likely to be in the ensuing 12 months. However, there was every likelihood that the market would, expand, and the figure proposed by the company would be somewhat hypothetical. On behalf of the box-makers’ association, Mr. W. Perry said the application was in the nature of an appeal on the facts. The tribunal, having heard the evidence, decided on a certain figure, and the company was now asking that that figure should be discarded. The z tribunal will hear further argument this morning.