FRUIT RETAILERS

INFLUX OF ASIATICS INCREASE SINCE WAR BEGAN 35 MORE IN CITY AREA Allegations that Asiatic fruiterers in Auckland were squeezing Europeans out of the trade and had increased their operations since the beginning of the war were made at a sitting of the Auckland Area Manpower Committee last night, when the Auckland Retail Fruiterers' Association supported an appeal made by Joseph Reuben Clark, a fruiterer, of" Kararigahape Road. Statements were also made that Chinese and Indian fruiterers were being given preference over Europeans in the purchase of fruit. A member of the association, Sir. Samuel Coleman, said that since the outbreak of hostilities 44 new Chinese fruit shops had opened in the Auckland ' Province, 35 of them being in the Auckland metropolitan area. These figures were explained by the Chinese innigration figures for 1939 and 1940, which showed a net immigration increase of 1235 persons in two years. Uneconomic Competition "The majority of white fruiterers in Auckland have been subjected to severe and uneconomic competition because there was already an abundance of fruit shops," said Mr. Coleman. "The competition is further made unequal by Asiatic defiance of our labour and health laws. The European fruiterers to-day are just earning a bare living and have to work long hours to do so. Many of the Chinese shops 1 recently opened are financed by the merchant auctioneering firms, who alone have the right to distribute Government iruits, and in some cases they have guaranteed the leases. It is thus quite easy to understand that when supplies are short the'shopkeeper who is indebted to the merchant will and docs receive preference." The association considered that Chinese fruiterers were deliberately exploiting the liability of the European fruiterers for military service, said the witness, who gave instances of Chinese opening shops rfear those of Europeans who were liable for service. It was considered against the public interest that the retail fruit trade should pass into the hands of Asiatic?, for if they obtained a monopoly, prices would rise to extortionate heights. Justice Questioned The members of the association, many of whom fought in the last war, could not follow the justice of forfeiting their businesses and capital for tha benefit of Asiatic refugees, who should be in the war as much as the Europeans wero. It was realised that a few New Zealandborn single Chinese were in the Territorial forces. Recently when a European fruiterer, '• who had been called up, attempted to sell his business, the only prospective purchaser was a Chinese, said witness. When they could not come to terms the Chinese intimated that it would be only a matter of time before he would be able to gain control of the fruit business in the a*ea. On the grounds of public interest the committee dismissed the appeal, the chairman, Mr. H. A. Anderson, remarking that the committee was obliged to view the matter in relation to public interest as a whole and not with respect to a particular section. It was clear that the public would not suffer from an absence of supplies. The appeal was adjourned for two months on the grounds of hardship.