Tribunal to Control Prices and Prevent Profiteering

Northern Advocate, 11 May 1939, Page 9

Tribunal to Control Prices and Prevent Profiteering

[Per Press Association. C opyriaht,}' WELLINGTON, This Day. rpHE MINISTER OF INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE, THE HON. D. G. SULLIVAN, IN ANNOUNCING THE GOVERNMENT’S DECISION TO APPOINT A SPECIAL TRIBUNAL TO' EXERCISE CONTINUOUS CONTROL OVER PRICES, SAID IN AN INTERVIEW WITH THE NEWSPAPER “STANDARD” THAT IN FEBRUARY LAST HE INTIMATED THE GOVERNMENT’S ATTITUDE IN RESPECT TO THE: CONTROL OF PRICES AND PROFITEERING.

He said the question of keeping prices stable in the present situation was one that had been receiving his attention, and that of the Government generally, for some considerable time.

The function of the special tribunal ! will be to exorcise continuous supervision over prices, to examine price increases, to arrange for investigations and inquiries in regard to such increases and- in regard to the reasonableness or unreasonableness of prices, and to make _recommendations to the Government thereon,” Mr Sullivan said. Powers of Tribunal. The tribunal will be given powers of judicial inquiry under the Board of Trade Act, 1919, and will be able to call persons before it if necessary to give evidence in support of any increases in prices. “In addition to this, the Government has decided to pass regulations’ under the Board of Trade Act requiring persons who are about to increase their prices to notify the tribunal to that effect and to give reasons in support of their action. Effective Control. • “The tribunal will then examine the reasons put forward for the increase, and if such increase is not justified the matter will be taken up by the tribunal with the parties concerned. This procedure will make for more effective control over prices.” 'Mr Sullivan added that the Government was adopting this procedure by reason of the attitude of a few toward the present situation. “This is the position with which the Government has been faced, and it has reluctantly been compelled to implement the procedure outlined,” he said.

Giant Plane Expected At Auckland In July •

[Special to “Northern Advocate ” 3 AUCKLAND, This Day.

According to information received in Auckland, a. 75-passenger Boeing Clipper recently delivered to Pan-Ameri-can Airways is expected to reach Auckland in July. The Clipper will be carrying out a survey flight over the new South Pacific air route. The machine will fly from Honolulu by way of Canton Island and Noumea, New Caledonia, to Auckland. . Early resumption of the service interrupted in January, 1938, is indicated by activity along the new route chosen by Pan-American Airways. Passengers for Auckland by the Mariposa, due from San Francisco tomorrow, include Mr E. B. Buxton, one of the company’s meteorologists, who was in Auckland last year, and Mr D. F. O’Brien, who will become chief radio operator at the southern terminal. Immediately upon his arrival in Auckland Mr Buxton will resume his interrupted task of compiling a weather history of the South Pacific area.