Against Profiteering
The Government is pledged to stop profiteering, and the promise is likely to be fulfilled, at least in the cases of certain essential commodities, by the Prices of Goods Bill now before Parliament. For goods specified a permitted price will be arrived at by adding increased costs of production and selling to a " basic price," which was the normal price on August 1st. Local committees will be responsible for investigating charges of profiteering, and for reporting them, if necessary, to a central committee, and severe penalties are imposed for any breach of the law. The mere existence of the Act should suffice to warn off dishonest dealers, and the ordinary honest tradesman will know just where he stands, thanks to the machinery of price-fixing. It will be observed that the measure applies only to goods specified in Board of Trade Orders. Profiteering in luxury trades is not a matter of national importance.
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