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as to whether it would be in order. He apparently wrote a letter of complaint to all the Auckland representatives in Parliament, and in it he complained as to the treatment he has received from the oil companies. He desires that it be put before the Committee. He sent a copy of the letter to Mr. Sutherland. The Chairman : Yes, put it in. I understand that evidence will be tendered on behalf of the resellers later on. Mr. O'Leary.] You have seen it, Mr. Spratt, have you any objection to it ? —No. Mr. B. Sutherland, 19th September, 1935. Messrs. National Distributors, Ltd., Wellington. Dear Mr. Sutherland,— Re " Commercial Trust Act." The other enclosure is a copy of a letter forwarded by Mr. W. S. Miller to all the Auckland City members of Parliament. Mr. Miller, who is the owner of the largest Service Station in N.Z., is willing to do anything within his power in Auckland, and elsewhere by correspondence. Mr. Miller regrets that it is impossible for him to go to Wellington as he has no one in his service whom he would care to leave in control. Yours faithfully, National Distributors, Ltd. (Sgd.) W. Cowan, Manager, Auckland District.

Mr. P. Lye, M.P., 12th September, 1935. House of Representatives, Parliament Buildings, Wellington. Dear Sir, — I was pleased to note that your name was mentioned in the N.Z. Herald of yesterday as being one of those opposing any amendment to the Commercial Trusts Act being allowed to proceed. I take this opportunity to bring to your attention the tactics adopted by the major oil companies here in Auckland to awaken interest and endeavour to create an apparently justifiable reason for some alteration being made to the Act. Prior to this question being brought up in the House on March 28th ; 1935, a scheme was laid by the oil companies whereby Shell, Vacuum, Big Tree, and Texas Companies, from all of whom I was then dealing, cut off my supplies of petrol, knowing that by so doing it practically meant ruination to my business, as I was then one of the largest retail vendors of petrol in New Zealand. I have at all times paid my accounts strictly by the due dates, and when my solicitor and I tendered the cash to these firms, after they had cut off my supply, they still refused to fulfil my orders, the Texas Company shortly after regranting me supplies. Since then, I have been able to sell only one brand of petrol —Texaco. When asked for the reason for their action, cach local manager of these companies gave me the same reply — that is, that they had received instructions from Head Office, and when asked many times at later dates for supplies and the reason why my orders would not be accepted, the answer was that it was at the request of the Auckland Petrol Resellers' Association that I should not be supplied, otherwise the resellers would boycott these particular brands of petrol. At this time as at all other times, I had sold company brands at competitive prices only, and at the particular time in question, the price ruling at three-of the service stations nearest to me was the same price at which I was selling. One of those stations was owned outright by the Gilmore Oil Company and was known as the Domain Service Station, so it was impossible for them to even tender the excuse that I was the offender in an endeavour to set a lower price level. On many occasions in the past I have imported my own brand of oil and petrol in competition with the oil companies, but have sold only my own brand" below the ruling retail rate. I have at all times made legitimate profits on these commodities, and worked on reasonable percentages, proof of this being that I started in the business sixteen years ago with practically nothing, and now operate, as an individual, one of the largest and most successful concerns of its kind in New Zealand. There is only one conclusion at which I can arrive, and this coincides with the advice of my counsel; and it is that the oil companies were endeavouring to make use of me to bring an action against them, for it was plain that they wanted me to do this, in order to create publicity through the Courts, and assist them to establish a reason why set prices should be maintained, and consequently why the Act should be altered. On talking the matter over at length with my counsel, I was assured that I had an excellent case against the companies, and they apparently had an ulterior motice in endeavouring to force me to take action and thereby be made use of as a tool, so that they in turn could accomplish their object by bringing about an apparent reason why the alteration in the Act was necessary. It would be difficult to estimate how much damage they have done to my business by cutting off my supplies, for as I have mentioned, I had the largest retail petrol turnover in New Zealand, and consequent upon the discontinuation of supplies to mo, othar sections of my business have been seriously affected. In closing, I would mention that I have been a regular customer of these companies for the past sixteen years, ° and it is not necessary to emphasize to any one of ordinary intelligence the enormous power they wield at the expense of the consumer. Trusting that this information will be of some assistance to you. Yours faithfully, W. S. Miller. P,S V Before closing, I would mention that the local manager of the Vacuum Oil Company and his chief lieutenant called on the 11th inst., and mentioned that they would not be pleased to supply mo with petrol, the reason for this being hard for me to understand, seeing that they cut off supplies only six months ago. Mr. Harris.] You dealt fairly lengthily with what you regard as the disastrous effects of high prices to the manufacturer. If a manufacturer does insist on higher prices, is it not going to restrict his trade very considerably ? —Not if he can get all the retailers to stock his product. Will not many others refuse to handly that high-priced line and get a substitute ? —No, they are all trying now for the higher profits. Unfortunately at one time they worked that, but now the grocers are strongly united and they are trying hard for higher profit. Pressure was brought to bear on me twelve months ago to raise the price of bread fd. higher than we get for it in Wellington, and you have information that we make 14-1 per cent, on it. I did not give way to it.

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