PRICE INCREASES

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23830, 9 June 1939, Page 10

PRICE INCREASES

THE NEW REGULATIONS INVESTIGATION TRIBUNAL MISAPPREHENSION REMOVED (Per United Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 8. Some commercial firms are under the impression that since the setting up of the Price Investigation Tribunal price increase may not be made until the approval of the tribunal is received, but from inquiries made in official circles it has been ascertained that this is not so. The only requirement is that before the price of an article is increased the firm concerned must notify the tribunal of the proposed increase and the reasons for it; but there is no need to wait for the tribunal’s approval before the increase is actually made. It was pointed out, however, that firms making price increases in such circumstances had to stand the risk whether the new price would be allowed to stand or whether the tribunal would require an alteration. The period of seven days’ grace before the regulations relating to the setting up of the tribunal become operative does not expire till tomorrow, but already a number of notifications of increases and requests for approval of higher prices have been received, and it is expected that the bulk will not begin to reach the tribunal till next week. The principal object of the regulations, it was stated, was to provide the tribunal with information relative to price increases, so that It would consider whether the increases in individual cases were iustified or not. BUSINESS MEN RETICENT PUBLIC UNLIKELY TO BENEFIT HANDICAP ON THE EFFICIENT ‘Special ro Daily Times) WELLINGTON, June 8. A general reluctance on the part of Wellington business men to comment on the probable result of the Price Investigation Tribunal’s jurisdiction over retail and wholesale selling prices was disclosed by inquiries made to-day. The general opinion is that while the principle of price control may be theoretically sound there are many objections to its practical application. “My experience of price fixation, whether by the Government or by private manufacturers, is that it never operates in the interests of the consuming public,” said the managing director of one large retail establishment. “ I have always been against price fixation because I know of no case of price stabilisation that has not forced me to sell to the public at a higher price than I would otherwise have been prepared to charge. Competition Restricted " The worst feature of price fixation by regulation,” he said, “ is that It usually results in a level being fixed to meet the costs of the less efficient section of the trading community. Thus the highly efficient business man is robbed of some of the advantages he deserves and has earned by his better business methods. Put in another way it means that the valuable stimulus of free competition is virtually removed. So far as I am concerned I would prefer to carry on under a system t" open competition, knowing that the business I happen to be in control of could only survive and attain success if its methods and general efficiency were maintained at a high level.” The proprietor of a grocery company said that almost every line his firm stocked seemed to be showing a tendency to rise to-day and it was obvious he would be compelled to become a frequent applicant to the tribunal. Filling in of Forms “Things are so getting that way now that I will soon have to have a clerk doing nothing else but filling in forms to comply with Government regulations,” he said. “ Import control alone has involved my company in a tremendous amount of additional clerical work and as we are in a trade with a constantly fluctuating price we can anticipate that our relationship with the Price Tribunal will involve still more work for the office staff.”