GROSS EXPLOITATION

Evening Star, Issue 23950, 30 July 1941, Page 5

GROSS EXPLOITATION

EGG PRICES ONt DAIRY’S PROFIT MARGIN OVER SHILLING (P.A.) WELLINGTON, July 29. The Price Tribunal to-day made further comment concerning the price order limiting the maximum margins of profit which may be levied by the retail resellers of eggs to 3Jd per dozen, and then only when the net cost of the eggs into the retailer’s store is 2s 4J per dozen or more. _ The tribunal cited an instance which had just come to its notice illustrating why the issue of the order had been so necessary. It had been found in the case of” a dairy that a margin of profit of Is OJd was levied in respect of a sale made on July 24, instead of 3d a dozen in accordance with the terms of the order, an excess charge to the consumer of 9}d per dozen. From the many complaints it had received in the past the tribunal was well aware that some dairies had been charging very high prices for eggs. This opportunity was taken, the tribunal stated, of emphasising that the price order in question related to all retailers of eggs—that .was to say, dairies were just as much bound by the order as were grocers, etc., and the fact that some dairy proprietors had, througK straitened or other untoward circumstances, found it necessary to operate a shop of the nature referred to to meet economic difficulties could not be admitted as justification for what was tantamount to exploiting those members of the purchasing community who patronised dairies for the purpose of egg supplies instead of obtaining them through their storekeeper or through other available channels. If this recognition were admitted it would, the tribunal stressed, apart from being in contravention of the terras of the order; be distinctly unfair to _ the grocers, etc., who were loyally abiding by the terms of the order by keeping their egg prices within the limits named. The tribunal stated that in the instance of the gross exploitation referred to above it had decided to issue a formal warning and at the same time to'make public this intimation, so that all traders concerned could be guided accordingly. It must, however, be understood by all the traders concerned, the tribunal concluded, that this action on its part must not be taken as a precedent and that in the event of further instances of excessive charging for eggs being located by the tribunal’s inspectors a prosecution would undoubtedly follow.