Thursday, November 29, 1973
CONSUMER ADVISORY SERVICE ESTABLISHED
The Financial Secretary, the Hon. C.P. Haddon-Cave, announced today
the setting up of a Consumer Advisory Service to give an authoritative guido
to wholesale prices and supplies of certain basic commodities.
This daily service will come into immediate effect and the first
details of prices and supplies will be issued to the press this afternoon
by Government Information Services.
The commodities covered will be rice, marine fish, vegetables and pork,
Mr. Haddoo-Cave told the Legislative Council that with experience
in interpreting changes in this information, the housewife would be able
to see clearly for herself whether retail margins were reasonable.
But if she felt that the prices were not reasonable she should make
her views Inown in no uncertain terms; "the economic power of the housewife
can be quite devastating," he stressed.
The guide will be compiled from information supplied by the Agriculture
and Fisheries Department and the Commerce and Industry Department.
In announcing the Consumer Advisory Service, the Financial Secretary
said he was not convinced that profiteering was taking place on anything like
the scale that has been implied. But he was prepared to accept that there
was potential scope for profiteering in certain circumstances, "such as
when panic buying ensues on the basis of some rumour to the effect that
a commodity is in short supply.
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He felt that it could be of assistance to consumers to have some
authoritative guide as to the availability of certain foodstuffs and their
price ranges.
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