Announcement Without Notice Causes Great Confusion

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26607, 1 November 1947, Page 6

Announcement Without Notice Causes Great Confusion

P.A. WELLINGTON, Oct. 31. Confusion reigned among retail tobacconists in .Wellington to-day following the unexpected announcement in Parliament on Thursday night of changes in the Customs duty on tobacco and the sales tax on cigarettes. The 'Price Investigation Tribunal was caught equally flat-footed. Bombarded with telephone calls from retailers inquiring whether they were to raise the prices, officials could only answer that no increase in price had been authorised, and therefore the previous prices must be adhered to. The matter was under consideration, they added. Further confusion arose through the action of some merchants who had made deliveries on the previous day claiming that these were November 1 deliveries handled earlier for the convenience of retailers. Some of these merchants informed the consignees that the goods xvould be subject to extra tax and duty. It was stated this afternoon by the secretary of the New Zealand Tobacconists’ Association, Mr A. M. Anderson that deliveries made on Thursday did not rank for the extra .charge, and that retailers should refuse to pay extra if the merchants attempted to press the increase. The consequence of all this confusion was that some tobacconists sold at the old rates, some increased all cigarettes at the rate of Id for 10, and othevs added 2d, though the statement late in the afternoon by the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr Nordmeyer, clarified the position as to what extra charges were to be permitted and when. The tobacconists pointed out that their implementation would be extremely difficult. The biggest suppliers of locally-made cigarettes, the manufacturers, had held up their November 1 quota deliveries, which, it was stated, would not be distributed until Tuesday, and these would be subject to the added tax. As the same brands would be in these deliveries as were delivered by the merchants at the old price on Thursday, the same goods at different authorised retail prices would be side by side on- the shelves. Thus the Minister’s—and presumably the new Price Tribunal order—instruction as to the clearance of old stock at the old price would be almost impossible, to obey. . , t .. A common complaint by retailers was that the Government, even if it had deliberately tried to cause the greatest inconvenience, could not have chosen a more inopportune moment to announce the changes. A week earlier or a week later, the whole change would have gone through without the slightest confusion