STATUTORY RULES.

1918. No. 205.

REGULATIONS UNDER THE WAR PRECAUTIONS ACT 1914-1916.

I, SIR WALTER EDWARD DAVIDSON, Deputy of the Governor-General, in and over the Commonwealth of Australia, acting with the advice of the Federal Executive Council, hereby make the following Regulations, under the War Precautions Act 1914-1916, to come into operation forthwith.

Dated this thirty-first day of July, 1918.

W. E. DAVIDSON,

Deputy of the Governor-General.

By His Excellency’s Command,

G. F. PEARCE,

Minister of State for Defence.

Amendment of War Precautions (Prices) Regulations 1916.

(Statutory Rules 1916, No. 155, as amended by Statutory Rules 1916, Nos. 188 and 286, and Statutory Rules 1917, Nos. 2, 5 and 224, and Statutory Rules 1918, Nos. 19, 59, 105, and 130).

1. After regulation 14 of the War Precautions (Prices) Regulations the following regulation is inserted:—

Wholesaler purchasing from wholesaler not to make profit.

“14a. Notwithstanding anything contained in these regulations, where in any Order made either before or after the commencement of this regulation the maximum price chargeable by a wholesaler for the sale of foodstuffs or necessary commodities is based on the cost to a wholesaler plus the percentage thereof specified in the Order, or where in any such Order a definite wholesale price is fixed any wholesaler who purchases any such foodstuffs or necessary commodities from any other wholesaler shall not be entitled to charge a greater price therefor than the maximum price at which the wholesaler from whom he so purchased the foodstuffs or necessary commodities was entitled to sell them.

2. Sub-regulation (2) of regulation 15 of the War Precautions (Prices) Regulations, inserted by Statutory Rules 1917, No. 2, shall stand as sub-regulation (3).

3. Sub-regulation (2) of regulation 15 of the War Precautions (Prices) Regulations, inserted by Statutory Rules 1918, No. 19, shall stand as sub-regulation (4).

Regulation 15a of the War Precautions (Prices) Regulations is amended by omitting therefrom the word “wholesale” (wherever occurring).

Regulation 15b of the War Precautions (Prices) Regulations is amended by inserting before the definition of “retail” the following definition:—

“‘landed cost’ means the actual or estimated cost of landing the foodstuffs or necessary commodities in the store in Australia of the person to or for whom, or on whose behalf, the foodstuffs or necessary commodities were originally supplied or ordered.”

Regulation 15c of the War Precautions (Prices) Regulations is amended—

(a) by inserting in paragraph (a) of sub-regulation (2) after the word “commodity” (last occurring), the words “for use or consumption within the Commonwealth”; and

(b) by adding at the end of paragraph (b) of sub-regulation (2) the words “, or in any foodstuff or necessary commodity made or partly made therefrom.”

After Regulation 15c of the War Precautions (Prices) Regulations the following regulation is inserted:—

Lists of fixed prices to be exhibited in shops.

“15d. (1) Every person who, in any proclaimed area, sells or has for sale, retail, any foodstuff or necessary commodity the maximum price of which is at the date of the commencement of this regulation fixed in that area by or under these regulations, shall within seven days after the commencement of this regulation, exhibit in his shop window (if any) and in his shop a notice in accordance with the form contained in this regulation setting forth such of the particulars relating to each such foodstuff or necessary commodity as are required by this regulation.

(2) The notice shall be exhibited in such a place in the shop window (if any), and in such a place in the shop, and be prepared in such a manner as to be easily legible to persons desiring to make purchases at the shop.

“(3) The Chief Commissioner or a Commissioner or any person thereto authorized in writing by either of them, may, if in his opinion, the notice is not easily legible to persons desiring to make purchases at the shop, direct that it be exhibited in such other place in the shop window or the shop as he thinks fit, and the owner or person in charge of the shop shall forthwith cause it to be exhibited in such other place.

“(4) The notice required by this regulation to be exhibited shall set forth the following particulars:—

(a) In the case of a metropolitan area—

(i) the name of the foodstuff or necessary commodity; and

(ii) the maximum price fixed in that area for such foodstuff or necessary commodity; and

(b) In the case of a proclaimed area other than a metropolitan area (in this paragraph referred to as ‘the proclaimed area’):—

(i) the name of the foodstuff or necessary commodity;

(ii) the maximum price fixed in the proclaimed area for such foodstuff or necessary commodity, or if the maximum price fixed is based upon the maximum price fixed in a metropolitan area plus cost of transport to the proclaimed area—

(a) the maximum price fixed in the metropolitan area for the foodstuff or necessary commodity;

(b) the cost of transport of the foodstuff or necessary commodity from the metropolitan area to the proclaimed area; and

(c) the maximum price consequently fixed in the proclaimed area for the foodstuff or necessary commodity.

“(5) Where the maximum price at which any foodstuff or necessary commodity may be sold in any proclaimed area is fixed or altered, the fixation or alteration shall be notified not later than the prescribed time in accordance with the form contained in this regulation.

“(6) The prescribed time for notifying fixation or alteration shall be as follows:—

(a) in the case of a metropolitan area, the time at which the shop is opened for business on the day next but one following the day upon which the fixation or alteration is notified;

(b) in the case of an area other than a metropolitan area, the time at which the shop is opened for business seven days after the day upon which the fixation or alteration is notified, or, in the case of any particular area, such further time as the Chief Commissioner, by notice published in the Gazette, allows.

“(7) The Chief Commissioner or any person thereto authorized in writing by him may at any time by notice in writing require the owner or person in charge of any shop to furnish him with a copy of any notice purporting to be exhibited in pursuance of this regulation, such copy to be certified by the owner or person in charge as a true copy of the notice exhibited at his shop with his authority.

“(8) The notice required to be exhibited in pursuance of this regulation shall be in accordance with such of the following forms as is applicable to the case:—

Form. A.

Commonwealth of Australia.

THE WAR PRECAUTIONS (PRICES) REGULATIONS.

Maximum Prices proclaimed in the Metropolitan Area of...........

Form. B.

Commonwealth of Australia.

THE WAR PRECAUTIONS (PRICES) REGULATIONS.

Maximum Prices proclaimed in the........................Area

*Note.—This column to be used only where a specific maximum price is fixed for the area. Where the maximum price for the area is ascertained by adding to the maximum price fixed in a metropolitan area the cost of transport to the proclaimed area, the other columns of the form must be used.

“(9) Any person who refuses or fails to exhibit any notice required by, or to comply with any direction or requirement given or made under, this regulation, or who exhibits a notice which is incorrect or incomplete in any particular, shall be guilty of an offence.”

Printed and Published for the Government of the Commonwealth of Australia by H. J. Green, Acting Government Printer for the State of Victoria