NOTES AND COMMENTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20598, 24 June 1930, Page 8

NOTES AND COMMENTS.

! REGULATION OF PRICES. Legislation has been introduced by tho Labour Government in Britain in which it is proposed to establish a Consumers' Council of soven members, at least two of whom are to bo womon, to make investigations into tho prices of a wide range of commodities, comprising articles of food of general consumption, articles of wearing apparel and clothing materials, fuels and any other article of common use which the council may be charged to consider by order of the Board of Trade, an order in tho last category to bo subject to confirmation by both Houses of Parliament. Otherwise tho council will have authority to mako investigations " cither from complaints made to them or from other information in thoir possession." Their inquiries arc to embrace production, distribution, supply or price of any article with which they aro charged to concern thomselves. In their reports to the Board of Trade the council will be empowered to submit statements as to prices at which commodities ought to bo sold; and brokerage or commission which ought to be allowed; and wbfl bo required to " indicate the methods which appear to bo those best practicable for securing compliance with their opinion and with any order made by the Board of Trade." To secure complianco with tho council's recommendations, the Board of Trade will be empowered to make an order prohibiting persons from charging in respect of tho commodity concerned any greater price, brokerage, or commission than that specified in the order.

THE LESSONS OP HISTORY. In justification of this programme of price-fixing, Mr. William Graham, President of the Board of Trade, told tho House of Commons that tho fall in producers' or commodity prices had not reached tho consumer in tho. retail markets. Ho admitted that transport charges have increased and other burdens have grown, but " it is tho considered judgment of responsible economists that, even when tho fullest allowance has been made for this new static elbment between producers and consumers, there is still too great a spread between the one end and tho other in this country. That is a manifest injustice to millions of our people." However, he was warned by Sir Charles Onian that history from Herodotus down to tho present day is strewn with similar experiments which have all ended in failure. '* The Emperor Diocletian fixed the prico of everything from a pint of lentils up through lengths of rope to black negro slaves, putting an exact and what ho thought an honest prico on all of them," he said. " Robespierre and tho Jacobins made the attempt with the celebrated law about food prices which led to the closing of the bakers' shops and Paris riots lasting for weeks. Modern Russia may be regarded as an example of what comes from trying, with tho best of. intentions, to fix prices for the ' proletariat.' . , Thp present Government, again with tho best of intentions, is going over tho old path that thousands of republics and monarchies, either well-intentioned or wishing to ap* pear well-intentioned, have.gone over before them, all ending in absolute failure."

NAVIES AND SAFEGUARDING. Disctissing tho so-called ""safeguarding" clause in tho London Naval Treaty, the Review of Reviews says:—" Italy claims ' parity ' with Franco, which France refuses. If tho Italians try to build up their fleet to equality with the French fleet, and Franco consequently increases her own navy, the British Admiralty may insist upon applying the principle that tho British Navy must be as strong as the two strongest European fleets combined. In this event British tonnage would have to be increased.. In the name of Anglo-American ' parity' the United States might then bo obliged to increase its tonnage; and, in order to preserve the proportionate strength which Japan accepted in London, tho- Japanese fleet would also havo to bo strengthened. Thus, thanks to tho * safeguarding' clause, the naval armaments of the world might bo at the mercy of whatever Mussolini thinks expedient for the maintenance of Fascist prestige; and, instead of providing for a real reduction of navies, the London Treaty would end by increasing them all round. This is one American objection. Tho other is that tho 4 safeguarding' clauso provides for prompt consultation betwefen tho United States of America and Japan upon ' tho situation' presented by an increase of tho French and Italian navies. In this way, American isolationists argue, tho United States would be drawn into consultation with other Powers upon matters really political, however technical they might seem to bo. ... It is easy to imagine what play tho opponents of the treaty in the United States Senate will be able to make with this argument."' TIIE FATE OF THE TREATY.

" The most serious effect of tho Italian decision may be to convinco the people of the United States that European nations are incurably quarrelsome and

that, therefore, tho safest American policy will bo to steer clear of any international engagements, and to suspend, for tho present at any rate, tho ratification of tho London Naval Treaty," the Review of Reviows adds. " A number of currents in the American domestic situation may run in the same direction, and tend to frustrate President Hoover's wish that tho treaty should be ratified by tho Senate before tho summer recess, which is expected to begin about tho middlo .of Juno. If tho treaty is not ratified boforo tho< Senate rises, its chances in tho winter

session will bo problematical; for President Hoover may then find himself confronted by a thoroughly hostile House of Representatives and by a Senate in which his friends will bo even fewer than they aro to-day. . , . Upon tho bohaviour of tho Senate tho fate of tho treaty, and final judgment on the work of the London Naval Conference, will necessarily depend. Even should the British, French and Japanese Parliaments and tho Italian Fascist Chambers ratify tho troaty without knowing whether or not President Hoover will be able to get together a two-thirds majority in favour of it, tho treaty itself would be nullified by a refusal of the Senate to endorse tho work of the Americau delegation in London."