MUNICIPAL MARKETS

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 47, 24 August 1917, Page 2

MUNICIPAL MARKETS

DEPUTATION TO MINISTERS

STATE TRAWLERS NECESSARY.

A deputation of Otago members of ParKamont, comprising- Messrs. Dickeon, Statham, Malcolm, Scott, Walker, and Sidey, waited upon the' Hon. G. W. Russell yesterday afternoon and brought under his notice the desiro of the Duncdin City Council that the Government should bring- down this .session an amendment to the Municipal Corporations Act, 1908, providing that in the event of municipal corporations establishing public markets no person shall sell wholesale by auction for human consumption any fish save in euch markets, nor unless the inspector appointed by the council has passed such 'fish as being fit for human consumption. A letter read by the deputation from the Town Clerk of Dunedin stated that hie council had for a considerable period been looking into the question of controlling a.nd cheapening the fish supply, but it was felt that it would be impossible to do any real good without adequate ' powers from the Legielature in the direction indicated. A similar request had previously been made to tho Government by the Municipal Association, and last year the council had approached tho Minister of Marine direct on tho matter, but so far nothing seomed to have been done. Tho writer addfed that Auckland had already obtained the.power Dunedin was asking for by means of n. local Act, "The. Auckland City Markets Empowering Act." It was much to be ! desired that general legislative authority, even if restricted ■ to the larger cities, should be provided at an oarly date. In conclusion the writer stated that some time ago he received a. communication from the Otago Fishermen's Union endorsing the proposal to establish , fish markets, and concluding with the state[ment.that "fishermen get about one penny per Ib_ and tho shops retail it at sixpence and eightpsnoo per pound." The Minister, in reply, stated that tho essential difference between the Dunedin scheme and the Auckland one was that the Citj of Auckland owned the trawlers which caught:the fish and possessed its own retail shops for the purpose of selling direct to the people of tho -city. The inspector was a.Public Health officer, because it was not considered fair to appoint a municipal officer to the position when the City Council was in competition. Provision had been made in the Act in wording sufficiently wide to enable him to make regulation to go through. The modus operandi for the council was to send up to the Minister the regulations it wished to have put into force, and they would bo considered.. Another clause gave the council power to establish markets, but the deputation wanted to know whether the council possessed power to sell all fish through its market. "It is just possible," raid Mr. Russell, "that we may be able to establish that point under the Cost of Living Act. I shall have to consult the Crown Law officers."

The Minister went on to atats that under the Bill he, had announced that day municipalities would be able to enter into negotiations with surrounding districts to deal effectively with the cost of living over the whole area—for Dunedin, for instance, to ta-ke in Port Chalmers, Portobello, etc., and so undertake one wide scheme for reducing 1 the cost of living." He could not discuss the BilL at. that juncture, but it would be passed on to the Cost of living Committee. If any legislation on the Statute Book did not go far enough he would ask the Law officers of the Crown to have legislation prepared so that if the council could not control a, public market it would be able to do so. He had received exactly the same information from the Thames and other fish districts ay. Dunedin, and ho 'was satisQed that if the Government had entire control and took the matter up energetically they could put fish on the table at threepence a pound from end to end of the country. So far as it was possible'for him to do it he had tried. It was now .suggested that 000 l atorage with provision for from, thirty to forty; tons should be established. '

Mr. Walker: Are you likely to have your own trawlers? < Mr. Russell said this was a bit premature ; ho could not discuss it then.