The whole trade of the country is in danger of
passing under the domination of the Board of Trade, and of the Committees which wield the delegated authority of the Board. Mr. Bonar Law was evidently alarmed at what Sir Auckland Geddes had done in accepting the amendment, and later gave a sort of general assurance that there would not be any widespread attempt to fix maximum prices. The Attorney-General moved an amendment providing that the punishment of a seller con- victed of making an " unreasonable profit " should be a fine not exceeding £200, or imprisonmentnot exceeding three months, or both imprisonment and fine. It seems almost incredible, yet it is a fact that the House then found itself under the humiliating necessity—obviously a necessity though a humiliating one— of discussing what " unreasonable profit " meant. Ultimately a slipshod definition, which may mean much misery and alarm to small shopkeepers and the pouching of many fees by lawyers, was adopted by the Government.
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