PRICE TRIBUNAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26567, 16 September 1947, Page 4

PRICE TRIBUNAL

NEW LEGISLATION PROVISION FOR WOMAN MEMBER MINISTER OUTLINES PLANS Daily Times Special Service AUCKLAND. Sept. 15. “ Legislation is being introduced this week to permit a woman to sit on the Price Tribunal.” said the Minister of Health, Miss Howard, during an addres at Kingsland to-night. She said she would probably “ get the, cane ” for telling the people a little bit about it, but it seemed so important that she just could not help letting it out. The Bill would make provision for a woman to sit on the tribunal when it was dealing with goods that affected women. 1 Another provision in the Bill, said Miss Howard, would stop the practice of making people buy other goods in order to obtain goods in short supply. “You know you can buy oranges by buying something else,” said the Minister. “Well, we are going to stop it. It is pretty hard for a woman living in a boarding house if, when she wants a few oranges, she has to buy a couple of cauliflowers.”

Another provision' in the legislation affected housewives because a false impression had been created by shopkeeps who said. “That is your Labour Government for you,’) when the housewives complained about the price of some inferior goods, said Miss Howard. “ They had blamed the Government when they sold iriferior goods at the maximum price and said that was the controlled price at which they had to sell them. The price was to be the maximum price and shopkeepers would not be allowed to say it was the controlled price. They had*, to say it was the maximum price and not fool the public by saying that those things were inferior but they had to sell them at the price fixed. They had been “ putting it across ” the workers for quite a few years. Miss Howard said that the Bill probably would be introduced to-morrow.