On the third reading of the " Profiteering " Bill
in the House of Commons on Thursday week, an amendment moved by Mr. Tyson Wilson was agreed to, by which the Board of Trade is empowered to obtain from all available sources information as to the existence of Trusts and combinations in trade in so far as they tend to the creation of monopolies or restraint of trade. Sir Auckland Geddes told the House that special and permanent legislation against the operations of Trusts would be proposed in the autumn, legislation based on the evidence taken by the Committee on Trusts. This evidence, he said, offered strong grounds for the belief that such rings and combinations did exist in this country. During the discussion Lord Robert Cecil said he was in favour of the Bill being most emphatic in dealing with Trusts. Two minor amendments were also carried, one that the officials to be held guilty in a company convicted of " profiteering " should be limited to the chairman, managing director, and officers con- cerned in the management ; and (2) that nothing in the Act should apply to the sale of any article for export•. Ultimately the Bill passed the third reading without a division.
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