AGAINST MONOPOLIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 18225, 19 October 1922, Page 9

AGAINST MONOPOLIES.

BTRINGENT PROPOSALS.

NEW SOUTH WALES BILL. [from ova. own correspondent.] SYDNEY. Oct. 12. Labour supporters in New South Wales have been making a great outcry against the expressed intention of the Government to repeal the Profiteering Act, a measure of the late Labour Government, intended to save the workers from the operation of unduly high prices. The Nationalist Government, however, now proposes to go even further than its predecessors in this matter, and while doing away with the Profiteering Act, it will introduce legislation of a kind previously unknown in New South Wales for the repression of harmful monopolies and restraints of trade The new Bill provides that any person is guilty of an offence who monopolises or attempts to monopolise, or combines or conspires with any other person to monopolise the production or manufacture of, or the trade or commerce in, any commodity or article of commerce, or the supply of any services. Every contract made or entered into in contravention of this provision shall be illegal and void. A penalty of £500 is provided for an offence under the Act, and a second offence shall be indictable, with a penalty of £500, or 12 months' imprisonment. In the case of a corporation, the fine for a first offence is £600, and for a second

offence £1000. Provision is made for a Supreme Court injunction to prevent a harmful monopoly or " arrangement " from continuing its operations. The. penalty is a fine up to £500 a day for each day during which the offence continues. Anybody injured by a monopoly or trade arrangement may sue for damages and recover treble

damages.