PRICE TRIBUNAL

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4802, 26 June 1939, Page 5

PRICE TRIBUNAL

PROCEEDINGS TO BE IN PRIVATE MINISTER’S ASSURANCE. The Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan), in reply to a question whether judicial inquiries to be held by the Price Investigation Tribunal would be open to the Press and the public, said on Saturday that the matter was the subject of legislation, v/hich, of course, had to be complied with until altered by Parliament. The members of the Tribunal were empowered to hold such judicial inquiries under the Board of Trade Act, 1919, by powers delegated to them by the Minister, and they reported to the Minister.

It was provided by section 21 of the Act that every such inquiry should be held in private, but section 24 provided that so far as publication was deemed by the Minister to be expedient in the public interest it should be lawful for the Minister from time to time to publish, in such manner as he thought fit, any information obtained by him in the course of any judicial inquiry or investigation under the Act, and any report, findings, recommendations or comments made with respect thereto. “It would be seen, therefore, that the Tribunal has no power to hold the inquiries in public, or to admit representatives of the Press,” said the Minister, “but the powers of publication possessed by the Minister under the Act will, in proper cases, be used should it appear expedient in the public interest to do so. At the same time the provisions of the Act will enable traders and others to give their evidence without fear that details of their legitimate business will be made public.”