PRICES TRIBUNAL

Waikato Independent, Volume XX, Issue 2317, 12 October 1920, Page 5

PRICES TRIBUNAL

THE WHOLE THING A FARCE

DISSATISFACTION OF FARMERS

“It is time we sent a remit in,” said Mr D. McGregor at the meeting of tne Fordell branch of the Farmers’ Union as a prelude to some pithy comments on the operations of the Prices Investigation Tribunal. Mr McGregor considered that the Tribunal was striving for the shadow and missing the substance, and was now engaged in inquiring why a lady’s dress costing £7 should be sold for £lO. The other day the Tribunal had an investigation over the price of a bottle of hair restorer. Surely the “Tribunal was set up for a different purpose? While the tamers were getting only 1/6 per lb. for their wool, the price of clothing was very high, and although the price of hides had come down, the price of boots kept up. It was time they asked the Government to disband the Tribunal and appoint somebody who had the interests of the country at heart.

A Voice: Didn’t Uiey have one case over a pot of vaseline? (Laughter}. “The whole thing is a farce,” added Mr McGregor. “It is time that somebody looked after our interests better’ 1 ’ The president (Mr W. J. "Poison) said they seemed to t»c working the wrong way. If they had inspectors, like the inspectors of weights and measures, the work could be carried along on better lines. An inspector could impound an invoice, then inspect a wholesaler’s books and carry the matter right through to the distributing merchant. The Government had set up a lot of cumbersome complicated machinery and had now got it tangled round their necks.

Mr McGregor again referred to the high prices charged for woollen materials.

The pesident said, the wool, after scouring, cost 8/ or 10/ per lb at Home and about 4/ or 5/ here. It had to be spun by complicated machinery. Some of the dyes had advanced very much in price, and cost as much as 12/ per lb. When the wool left the factory it probably cost 7/ per lb. Then it went through the hands of the wholesalers and the hands of the retailers. He did not think that the Tribunal could do much.

A Voice: What about a pair of white blankets? The President: No woollen mills want to make them.

The Voice: Not enough profit, I suppose! The President: Better profits can be made out of cloth.

Mr McGregor (facetiously): I forgot you are the director of a woollen company. (Laughter).

A Voice: What about boots?

The president suggested a remit on the lines of reconstruction of the Prices Investigation Tribunal by the appointment of inspectors on the same lines as the inspectors of weights and measures. Mr McGregor: It should not bo left to private people to take action. The President: Now the onus of proof is on the person bringing the maT tor up and they have to do the dirty work.

It was decided to forward a remit In keeping with the president's suggestion that inspectors should be appointed to take the place of the present Tribunal.