TOBACCO TRADE

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 16021, 21 February 1920, Page 3

TOBACCO TRADE

REPOET OP PROFITEERING

COMMITTEE. A. & N.Z. LONDON, Feb. 20. The report of the committee appoint* ed under the Profiteering Act to inquire into the price of tobacco deals mainly with the operations of the Imperial Tobacco Company, which is believed to control sixty per cent of Britain’s tobacco. The committee point;) out that prices have risen 110 per cent since 1914, but Customs duty has risen about 122 per cent. It finds no evidence that the company’s operations contributed in any way to the rise in price. The committee refrains from suggesting any safeguards against the monopoly, hut urges the regular publication of profits of all combinations. It also urges the Government to take powers to protect the public against a detrimental monopoly. Tho report does not deal with collateral companies in the Dominions.