THE COST OF LIVING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLII, Issue 10108, 16 October 1917, Page 5

THE COST OF LIVING.

DISCUSSED IN THE HOUSE. REFERRED BACK TO COMMITTEE. (Phe Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 15. Ip the House to-night .Mr . Stidham, chairman of the Cost-of-Living Committee, presented the following report— i in’ Cost-of-Living Committee which was set up for die . purpose of enquiring into and reporting upon matters connected with the cost of living, has the honor to report that. it. lias taken die sworn evidence of a large number of persons, including members of the Board of I rude, wholesale merchants, retailors, representatives of dairy and other industries, Wellington Trades and Labour Council, and Government departmental officers, and as a result of its investigations, makes the following' recommendations : 1, That a Food Controller be forthwith appointed who shall have a seat ill the Cabinet, and on whom shall be vested special plenary powers of administration to enable him to deal promptly from time- to time with problems affecting, or which may affect, die cost of living, with power to control and regulate prices of food supplies, and aav other necessaries of life. 2. That the constitution, duties, and powers of the Board of Trade be amended to meet the altered condition consequent upon the appointment of the Food Controller.

3. That sub-section of Section 2 of “The Commercial Trusts. Act, 1910,’ 1 and the schedule to the said Act (as amended by section 12 of “The Cost of Living Act, 1915”) specifying goods to which (lie commercial ’Trust* Act applies, ho repealed, thus making the provisions of the lastnamed Act directed against the formation of trust* and combines apply to any goods whatever.

4. That in order to protect the public from short weight and short measure, legislation no passed providing that all packages and other receptacles in which goods have been put up ready for sale shall have clearly marked thereon the net weight and net

quantity of goods contained therein. 5. That encouragement he given by legislation or .otherwise to tho formiition and carrying on of co operative societies for distribution of commodities of all kinds.

6. That where necessary in tho interests of tho community, tho Government should undertake to purchase for wholesale and retail distribution goods by sale, otherwise that the necessary legislation be passed to enable this to bo done.

7. That vigorous stops bo taken to develop the fishing industries throughout tho Dominion, with a view to obtaining a cheap and plentiful supply of fish for the community.

8. That the question of overseas and local shipping being of paramount importance, ihe Government should take into consider-

ation the advisability of establishing a Statecontrolled co-operative line of steamers for the carriage of imports and exports of the Dominion and for meeting the requirements of intercoastal and the Islands’ trades.

9. That in order to chock more effectively any cases of unfair increase in rents over pre-war rates, the provisions of part 1 of The War Legislation Amendment Act., 1916. be amended, and that in cases where rents have been increased, in contravention of the terms of the Act, the duty is cast upon the Labour Department to investigate and where necessary bring such cases before- the Court, for adjustment. Further, the committee is of opinion that the curtailment of IsulDurban trtii.ii services lias been a factor in increasing the rents in cities, and urges the reinstatement of such services a s will enable suburban icsidents to attend to their occupation, and reach their homes without f-erions difficulty. The committee is of opinion that the special plenary powers to bo vested in tho Food Controller should include, inter <um. (a) to effectually prevent an increase in

prices in any case where such proposed increase is not justified to bis satisfaction, and whore necessary to fix. from lime to time, tho maximum wholesale and retail price* of goods throughout Now Zealand ; (b) to provide for the regulation of rcta.il prices of local products to consumers in New Zealand in the following manner, viz., the purchase at ruling export prices of such products as may be required for local consumption, and the distribution thereof throughout the Dominion at such lower prices as tho Food Controller shall think fit. the loss being mot out of the Consolidated Fund; (c) to make arrangements for elimination, as far as possible, of the present unneceswasteful cost of distribution: (d) to eliminate the middleman’s profits wherever possible by bringing the consumer more nearly info contact with the producer; (e) to take the necessary steps to ensure the efficient carrying out of a “through booking” scheme for perishable foodstuffs, >tnd of a “fruit by post” scheme; (f) to fix and otherwise deal with the rents of dwell-ing-houses under powers similar to those under which ho may deal with the prices of goods. THE DISCUSSION. In presenting the report, tho Chairman ol the Committee (Mr Stathain) held the opinion, after hearing the evidence before tho committee, that tho Board of Trade had dealt, with too many departments. It would u better if the combination misnamed a Board of Trade resolved itself into one person. Further facilities should be given to municipal bodies for trading purposes. Dealing with fish, ho stated that the committee hud come to the conclusion that soiuet.nng should be done by tho Government in that matter. In tho past largo quantities oi good fish had been dumped into the sea in order to keep prices up. Mr Bayne: filial is done now in WeJiing-

Mr Parr; It was done in Auckland Regarding rents, Mr Statham said the committee was of the opinion that in the case of excessive charges the onus should bo upon the Labour Department to take action against the_ landlord. Ho referred to the manor of high prices for food, and contended that the fixing of prices w.as not a panacea for the trouble, as some people thought. Continuing, Mr Statham stater! that everything depended upon the cost of tile articles in tile country of origin. If they were costly there no food controller could do more than see that an undue profit was not mode after they readied New Zealand, it was also his ler.onal opinion that if the Government tad, at the outbreak of the war, commandeered foodstuffs, prices might have been kept down, but that opportunity wan irretrievably lost, and any attempt to force down prices would be an extreme injury to many innocent traders. Mr Sidoy said Mr Statham had traversed the work of the committee very fairly, hut he proposed to move an amen Jment, that the report be referred back to the committee for the purpose of reconsidering paragraph “B" of the report, which proposjJ that the food controller may purchase piocucts at ruling export values in local consumption and sell at a lowor price if ho thinks lit, the. loss to lxi paid out of the consolidated fund. Ho explained there was a sharp conflict of opinion in committee on the point, the paragraph being carried by Bto b. He deprecated giving the controller unrestricted powers ati the expense of the consolidated fund, and said that the evidence given liefore the committee favoured the establishment of an equalisation fund, out of which losses could be adjusted. The proposal in paragraph “B" was impracticable, as to reduce (he price of moat by one penny per pound to each individual would absorb a million pounds, which was a position no Finance Minister could sanction.

.Sir Joseph Ward complimented the committee on t.ho very excellent work they had accomplished in connection with the, tx*J, of living, hut ho proposed to warn the public against being misled by persons who may afterwards say that failure to reduce the cost, of living is due entirely to the failure of the Government to adopt every one of the committee’s recommendations. Personally. he was amazed at the suggestion made regarding the calls upon the consolidated fund to make up losses, lie asked the chairman if the committee had assessed those losses, and he. was informed it was impossible to assess them. In Ids opinion they were just as likely to be three or four millions as one, and it was absurd to give the. food controller plenary power to incur such a loss. It was impossible to permit the controller with such power to work with any other Minister, therefore it was no use putting him in the Cabinet under such circumstances. He ought to l>e outside the Cabinet and given absolute power over everything and everybody. No . .Government with any sense of responsibility could accept such a recommendation as contained in clause “B” and give it effect by legislation. . Mr Veitch said it was unfair to say the report proposed lo place restrictions on producers for the benefit of consumers, ft was a question of limiting the war profits of the producers in order to save cou-

sum era from increased cost of living. Mr Massey said lie was dead against monopoly, no matter in which form it took. There seemed to be an opinion on the part of many people that the Government could reduce prices by a scratch of tho pen. That was not the case. History proved that the fixing of the maximum price had failed, as it caused limitation of production and then up went prices. Ho contended that tho term “necessaries of life” was a comprehensive one, and included many important articles which tho Government could not possibly control. There was tho extra freight of £lO per ton and the extra insurance on account of tho submarine menace, which ho was glad to say was coining to an end. The Government could not control tho price of broad because this, country could not grow all its wheat, but had been importing wheat from Australia. Tho producers certainly received roinunorativo prices, and it was a good thing they did, because it was the exports that kept the country going. He would not see any injustice done to the producers. If the House desired that course they would have to get another Minister, because bo would not do it. Continuing, Mi Massey said there was a special arrangement under consideration by which tho Government could take over meat from tho freezers without having to pay for several months’ storage. In conclusion ho said ho was not against Mr bidey s amendment, as there was still time to give tho whole subject further considerution, Tho debate was continued by Messrs Walker, Webb, Wilford, Hon. Mac Donald, Payne, Hornsby, McCombs and ilkinson. Mr Statham controverted the impression created by the speech of tho Minister of Finance that the consolidated fund was made up mainly by contributions from the poorer classes, and therefore tho loss to ho borne by selling products to the people at cheap rates would fall more upon tho workers than upon tho others. Such an impression was quite erroneous. At 2.30 the amendment was put and carried on the voices, and the report was referred back to tho Committee.

COMMITTEE MEET TO-DAY. (Fbom Odb Pabliamentaby RipobtibJ WELLINGTON, Oct. 16. The debate on the Cost of Living Committee’s report covered a great deal of ground without adding much to the general information on the subject. Ijho report has been referred back to the committee, which will meet this morning to consider further the recommendations placed before the House to-day. The committee will not take any further evidence and the recommendation is not a matter of great importance, since the Government evidently does not intend to accept the Committee’s advice.