If Prices Rise Unduly

Gisborne Times, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 12902, 1 July 1936, Page 5

If Prices Rise Unduly

THREAT OF STATE , GOM PETITION. CABINET DISCUSSING POSITION. . \ (Press Association), WELLINGTON, June 30. “If increases in tho prices of commodities, because of the rise m wages cannot he prevented by regulations, it will be done by State competition,” said the Rrimo Minister in ar interview ths evening after a Cabinet meeting.

Tho important question of price fixation was' discussed by Cabinet during the day and its- importance, from the point of view of the Government as well as that of the people, was- emphasised by Air. Savage. ' He indicated that the Government would not hesitate to take 1 direct competitive action if prices rose to what bo described as an unnecessary level. The object of the Government was to havo distribution placed on a more equitable basis than in the past. When people were raising prices, they should not lose sight of the fact that they were going to- have an added turnover, as a result of the Government’s legislation, arid that tins would ho some recompense for the increased wages. The Department of Industries and Commerce was shaping regulations now for the purpose ul' preventing an unnecessary rise n. prices. “It just comes to this,” said Mr. Savage. “We have a mandate from the people to bring about a more equitable distribution of the country’s production and give the people the benefit of the machine, of science and ,of increased production. IF we raise Wages and decrease hours of labour and then allow prices to ?o up in the same ratio, wo will have altered nothing.”. -