PRICE FIXING

Evening Star, Issue 22277, 2 March 1936, Page 8

PRICE FIXING

PETROL AND BREAD SCHEMES SOME FURTHER DETAILS [Special to the ' Star.'] WELLINGTON, March 2. The Order in Council rixuig bread prices, as part of the complete arrangement of price stabilisation from wheatgrower to consumer, specified nine definite areas in which bread is to be sold for cash over the counter at lOd per 41b loaf or 5d for the half loaf. The areas defined were the lour chief centres and surrounding boroughs, plus the boroughs of Ashburton, Temuka, Timaru, Oamaru. and the city of Invercargill. • . , , u Bread prices in other places are subject to the following provision in the Order in Council:—"The price of bread shall be the standard price thereof on the Bth day of February—that is to say, in respect of every locality the current price at which on that day bread of the same nature and quality was saleable in that locality, when sold in the same quantity and on the same terms as to payment, delivery, and otherwise." Flour prices in the centres other than those definitely mentioned in the official announcement are being worked out in detail, together with many other points which have to be decided to enable the scheme to work smoothly, and the basis of flour prices will he ascertained by adding to the standard quotation, where already fixed, the extra cost of freight and handling to secure delivery to the baker. . New Zealand's price-fixing scheme seems to have been evolved with greater celerity than in Australia, where, according to a recent statement in ths Melbourne ' Argus,' the Federal Government hopes, early in March, to receive the final report of the Royal Commission on the flour, wheat, and bread industry, which commenced its investigations in January, 1934. It has presented some interim reports, but its recommendations covering all phases from wheat to bread production is still to come. The Commission has cost to date £33,000, but New Zealand's recent price fixing was determined by State officers in a few weeks, at the cost of their salaries and travelling expenses, though they were, of course, able to take advantage of prior inquiries which have been made over the long period during which the wheat industry has been protected from overseas competition. One of the results of stabilising petrol prices in the Wellington area has been that resellers' employees have secured an increase of »5s per week in their wages, which are now £4 per week, while their hours have been reduced from 50 to 44 per week. The Christchurcli petrol business is now under investigation owing to the request received from petrol station owners in that city that they should be protected from price-cuting.