Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1926. DEARER SUGAR

Greymouth Evening Star, 29 November 1926, Page 4

Greymouth Evening Star. AND BRUNNERTON ADVOCATE MONDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1926. DEARER SUGAR

Another rise in the price of sugar is being forced upon the community, the third within three months. No explanation is given by the monopoly, as to why increased charges are necessary, and there is no apparent reason why the price, previously high, should be augmented. It will be remembered that some time ago, when Javanese sugar was on offer to the Dominion, a desperate appeal was made to the Government by the Colonial Sugar Refining Co., urging that a duty should be imposed on such importation, otherwise the Chelsea refinery would be in danger of being closed. Strenuous opposition was made in Parliament and elsewhere to this appeal being granted but eventually, the application was Successful, with the consequence that little, if any, of the C.S.R. Company’s competitors’ sugar reaches the Dominion. Seeing the protection given to the C.S.R. Company, the Government ought to take early action to prevent the N.Z. public being exploited. There may be adequate reason for the recent increases in the price, and, if so, the community will have to pay as cheerfully as possible. But if advantage is being taken of the tariff, the Government should act. The C.S.R. Company cannot be described as struggling to make ends meet. The annual profits of the parent and subsidiary companies are enormous, and afford an instance of the need to watch monopolies where the supply of food necessities is concerned. The cost of living keeps high, and this breeds industrial discontent, and inspires demands for higher wages. If it is not practicable to grant such wage increases, —and in [many Dominion industries the cost of production is already dangerously high,—then every effort should be made to keep down ihe cost of food and other necessities, in order io make present wages have a greater purchasing power. Instead, the tendency is in the other direction. Many shop-keepers who believe in the policy of cutting prices to a minimum, are hindered from doing so by wholesalers insisting that definitely fixed prices be asked for their commodities. Competition is the most effective means of lessening the cost of Jiving, and when such competition is lacking, or forbidden, it becomes the duty

of the Government of the day to pay closer attention than ever to the amounts demanded. If the Ministers do nothing, they are helping the cause of their Labour opponents, who find in the high cost of living, effective material for election propaganda. It is to be hoped that official notice will be taken of the increased price of sugar, and if the explanation of the C.S.R. Company is not fully satisfactory, that the necessary steps be taken to secure for New Zealand supplies from other sources. There is no sugar shortage in tJie world, to-day. On the contrary, cane and beet between them can more than meet the demand. Instead of sugar prices being raised, there seems good cause for them to be reduced to something nearer the pre-war level.