REGULATION OF PRICES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20882, 26 May 1931, Page 6

REGULATION OF PRICES.

! AGITATION IN AUSTRALIA; DEMAND FOR LEGISLATION. EXAMPLE IN QUEENSLAND. [from our own correspondent.] SYDNEY, May 14. Politicians of every colour in Australia say that with falling wages it is mora necessary than ever tJiat price-fixing legislation should be introduced with {he object of stopping all forms of profiteering and of seeing that the peoplo receive the full benefit of the lower costs of production. There is a strong belief that foodstuffs and other necessities have not been reduced in price as they should have been, and this has caused a measure of unity which is seldom apparent in Australian politics. ' Victoria, whero there is a Labour Government in power, seems likely to introduce price-fixing legislation, founded on <he Queensland model, which, it is claimed, has beeu a powerful factor in reducing the cost of living. The Commonwealth organisation, which fixed (lie prices of commodities during the war, was abolished in 1920, after which the Statrs, with the exception of Tasmania, took control. Now, however, Queensland, with a Nationalist Government in power, is the only State in which price-fixing is practised, year in and year out, as it were.

The Victorian measure, passed in 1919, was called the Necessary Commodities Control Act. Under its authority a Fair Profits Commission was appointed for tha purpose of regulating prices. The Act was repealed the following year and the commission was disbanded, thus bringing to an end, for a time at least, the control of prices in Victoria. • The Queensland System. The Queensland Profiteering Act was passed in 1920, and like the Fair Rents Act of New South Wales, it took deep root and now serves as a model for the proposed Victorian legislation. It is claimed in Queensland that less than £IOOO a year suffices to administer the price-fixing machinery, which is controlled by a commissioner, who is also one cf the two Industrial Commissioners of the Industrial Court.

Wide powers are vested in the commissioner. He investigates, not only prices, but quality, supply, demand and transport of commodities, and fixes maxiprices, which" may vary for different districts. He keeps watch for profiteering and for combinations in restraint of trade, and he is supported by a penalty of £IOOO or imprisonment for a year, applicable for offences under the Act. He may summon, to give him information, anyone he thinks fit. From his price-fix' ing decisions there is no appeal. Many Items Under Review. ~

Any private person may instigate an inquiry and the commissioner may move on his own account. Not only are prices of food reviewed, but such diverse jjenis as ice, drapery, motor spirit, tram fares, board and lodging, fertilisers, sawn timber, electricity and boots. Once a price is fixed no trader can legally refuse to supply goods at that price. When the commissioner considers that any commodity which should be distributed for public use is being withheld from sale, he can order its seizure at a declared price, less the penalty impospd. The traders, it is said, co-operate with the department and so far there has been no friction. It is generally agreed that the stabilisation of prices secured under the Act is an assistance to trade.