[?] va Complaint
p. 131 · Read in the full issue
[?] Ting In
[?] R Out
[?] cal Produce Prices [?] ause [?] va Complaint
From Our Own Correspondent rHEN Suva housegirls are offered higher wages if they will “eat out”, they are in led to retaliate with an offer accept lower wages if they can t in”.
"his deadlock on the domestic nt is a direct result of too-high ces for essential foodstuffs, lopes of cheaper local produce a sequel to the opening of the dern, well-conducted Municipal ,rket have vanished. The mini m stall rental is only 1/-, and llholders have few, if any, of the jrhead costs met by shopkeepers, t market prices are as high as )se in the shops, and sometimes [her. rhere is a strong public belief it stallholders, when there is a it of local produce, prefer to let ? surplus rot rather than reduce
i price-level.
Bitter public complaints appar tly fall on deaf official ears. When ice controls were removed in jO, the Government undertook to mpose them if evidence of ploitation of the public should iterialise.
When most lines of imported Dds are priced beyond the reach the bulk of the low-wage popu
lation, it seems that the only possible answer is for the Govern ment to fix reasonable prices for both producer and consumer of local foodstuffs, giving both a share of the excess profits now made by middlemen. t Port Moresby hills are gradually becoming covered with trees, but the fire danger in the dry season is a constant threat to the trees, said the Administrator (Brigadier D. M. Cleland) when he presented the trophies won at the annual Port Moresby Flower Show. Urging public support for the Administra tion’s fire-prevention campaign, he said; “The more we reduce grass fires, the sooner the hills will be properly covered”.