Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1919. PROFITEERING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIII, Issue 1709, 27 December 1919, Page 4

Manawatu Evening Standard. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 27, 1919. PROFITEERING.

' The profiteering question looms largely in the public mind by reason of the high prices which still prevail in almost . every lino of business, with no present prospect of any abatement that is at all likely to bring things within reason- | able limit of the purchasing power of | the sovereign in pre-war days. Cir- • cumstances are so tending that it may ho at once said the ago of cheapness , lias passed, possibly for over. Wages have gone up and the cost of produc-’ 1 tion, . handling and transport has increased so greatly, that any reversion [ to 1914 prices, for even the necessaries of • life, seems altogether out of the , question. The position therefore has to be faced fairly and squarely by the , public, and it has also to be recognised 1 that, so long as traders demand and * the public are willing to pay, prices which are altogether out of reason when compared with the actual value . of goods offered and sold, so long will high prices continue. To take a case i in point. Fruit and vegetables, which can be and are grown in abundance in this country, and which should form staple articles of diet in every ( home’, , have boon, for months -past, and still are, selling at rates altogether disproportionate to their actual value. In some instances, indeed, the rates are actually prohibitive to people of small moans. Why are prices so high ? Because the dealers know that, in the greater number % of cases, the public must and will have the goods they sell, no matter what prices are charged. For that reason they are prepared to pay, through their agents in the'ccntral markets, prices which compel them to sell at the high rates they charge in order that they may conduct their businesses profitably. Nowhere, possibly, has more boon dona to check profiteering than in Great Britain, yet wo find Mr McCurdy, M.P. ; Parliamentary Secretary to the British Ministry of Food, stating that “one of the chief causes of profiteering is the fact that the public seem to have lost all sense of what is a reasonable price.” Illustrating the remark by a reference to that homely article of diet, Brussels sprouts, Mr McCurdy said that when, after the railway strike, they again jcamo on the market, they simply “jumped in price,” not because of any taction on the part of the producers, nor on account of any ring, but boiviuse “the retailers, knowing the nubble was willing to pay any price, bid up freely.” Just the same thing is operating here. Traders in New Zealand aro saying the same thing, that the public is willing to pay any price, and that it is easier, in many instances, to .sell the more highly priced, than the less costly article. While this disposition on the part of the public continues, is it reasonable to suppose any considerable reduction in prices is like- j )y to be brought about, even in the , cases where illegitimate arid exorbitant ,

profits are being made? In tho case of the latter, it appears likely that the Board of Trade Act, which contains ■ drastic provisions and penalties against profiteering, may, if properly administered, exercise a corrective influence. But it is manifestly impossible for the Board of Trade officials to detect and deal with every case of profiteering that goes on in tho country. Action can only be taken in cases where the facts are brought directly under the notice of the Board. In order to deal with profiteering in Great Britain, committees have been set up all over the country, and, in England alone, some 1600 local tribunals had been appointed when the last mail left, to deal with cases in which retailers were suspected of charging excessive prices. The dealings of these committees with the public are very thorough, and cases are reported in which refunds have been ordered to be made by traders, of amounts varying from 6d up to 2s 6d and more, which were held to be unfairly charged to the public. Here in New Zealand it may he taken for granted that the public is looking to the Government to do something in the direction of reducing the cost of living and checking profiteering. But it should not be forgotten that the Government, in turn, is largely dependent upon tho public for the information which will enable it to administer the Board of Trade Act, by which it is hoped to check profiteering. Without the' requisite information it is clearly unable to act.