PRICE TRIBUNAL POLICY IS TO ‘SQUEEZE’ TRADE

Greymouth Evening Star, 23 August 1949, Page 3

PRICE TRIBUNAL POLICY IS TO ‘SQUEEZE’ TRADE

WELLINGTON, August 22 (P.A.) —“The Price Tribunal has no policy apart from squeezing the retailer and the wholesaler to appease the producer on the one hand and the consumer as represented by the trade unions on the other,” said Mr L. K. Jonkers, president of the New Zealand Federation of Retail Fruiterers and Greengrocers, in his report to the federation’s annual meeting today. Mr Jonkers said this impression had been gained after several discussions with the tribunal on price margins. Contrary to expectations, said Mr Jonkers, the lifting last year of price controls on most vegetables had not resulted in a much needed improvement in vegetable packing. The contract system of digging and packing threw the cost of cleaning and grading on the retailer, although the cost should be borne by the grower, and about 60 per cent, of retail turnover — potatoes, pears, lemons, apples, and imported oranges—was still under price control and the margins permitted were uneconomic.