TINNED FISH

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 98, 28 April 1939, Page 11

TINNED FISH

FAST VANISHING

FEW WEEKS' SUPPLY

GROCERY PRICES UP

With wholesale stocks almost exhausted and retailers restricted to supplies variously estimated to be sufficient for from six weeks' to three months' normal demand Wellington is faced wfth the complete disappearance of tinned fish from the list of procurable foodstuffs by the end of July at latest. This period may be considerably shortened if the public make an expected rush for supplies. One chain of grocery stores has taken immediate steps to ration supplies by restricting purchases to three tins of tinned fish per customer, but a print cipal of another. group of stores said that he had not adopted rationing because there were so many ways it could be got round. It is estimated that import control has already caused a rise of at least 1\ per cent, in the general cost of groceries and further increases are making themselves apparent. Advances up to 15 per cent, in the price of certain locally-made goods that will have to replace some of the totally prohibited imported lines have already taken place, and it is the general opinion of both wholesale retail sections of the trade that still higher prices can be expected. The importance of imported tinned fish in the supply of foodstuffs may be, judged from the estimate of one chain store company director that tinned sardines, salmon, and-herrings in sauce account for at least 2£ per cent, of the total turnover. Another company principal said that his firm's purchases of tinned fish had, up to the present, exceeded £1000 a month. NO WHOLESALE STOCKS. Wholesale merchants' state that their stocks of tinned fish have been exhausted for some time. One manager said that his firm's stocks had been all used up by the heavy restrictions placed on importations for the first j period. The firm's allocation for that period was all swallowed up in filling contracts for forward delivery. The contracts had in most cases been made before the first restrictions were imposed, but nevertheless the goods required for those contracts had been placed against the firm's import licence for the January-June period. "Possibly we could have kept what little stock we had in hand and raised the price as we were entitled to do," this man said, "but not having enough to supply all of our customers, even on a rationed basis, we decided to sell out rather than cause dissatisfaction." "We would like to have rationed supplies of tinned fish to the public but 'it is not practicable to do so," said the principal of one chain store grocery firm. "If we refused to sell more than a certain quantity to one customer he could either make repeater! visits to one shop or else make separate purchases from a number of shops. My firm has enough stocks to meet normal requirements for from six weeks to two months, but if there is a rush to buy— and that is very likely—we will be sold out in a much shorter period. "What is going to happen when the Exhibition comes along I don't know. Housewives visiting the Exhibition will no doubt want to be able to prepare easy meals such as can be provided with tinned fish, but they won't be able to do so now. The normal demand will also be greatly increased by the big influx of visitors to the Exhibition. It will thus be seen that the prohibition against imported tinned fish is likely to be felt more severely in Wellington than anywhere else." TINNED EELS AND SNAPPER. "We shall all soon be" reduced to eating tinned eels and tinned snapper," said the principal of another group of chain stores with a smile. "I have sufficient stocks to last for three months at the most, provided they are conserved," he added. "As soon as the new restrictions were announced I immediately sent out a circular' to all branches instructing them to limit individual sales to three tins per customer. At present I can see no conceivable way that these imported fish can be replaced locally. "The cost of local products that will have to replace some of the imported lines must rise because production costs in New Zealand are so high. Costs will never be reduced to a workable basis here until we get rid of the 40-hour week. It has landed every country that has tried it in the soup. France and the United States landed in the soup over the 40-hour week. They were competing with countries working a 60-, 70-, and 80- hour week." Other important imported items now totally prohibited include English fish pastes, asparagus, and imported soups, all of which will have to be replaced by locaily-made lines. "We can't make fish pastes in New Zealand that will compare favourably with imported lines because we haven't the right kind of fish," one principal said. "As far as asparagus is concerned there is not enough produced in the Dominion to supply more than Hawke's Bay, though I understand that an expansion of production is in sight. A good line of soups is made in New Zealand and local products will also have to be used in place of imported essences, but a rise in price is bound to occur. It may also be pointed out that with the removal of j imported lines from the market local manufacturers will no longer have the same incentive to improve the quality and pack of their products in order to compete. Human nature being what it is this is bound to have a bad effect." GENERAL PRICE LEVEL. "The import restrictions for the first period have already resulted in an increase of at least 2\ per cent, in the general price level of groceries and a further general increase is already in sight," this man said. Referring to increases that had already taken place in the price of locally-made foodstuffs, a wholesale merchant said that certain lines of New Zealand-made jam had gone up 15 per cent, in price and candied peels had increased by 25 per cent. In view of the general restriction of business caused by the import regulations his firm would have to reduce its staff by 25 per cent. Another factor that will force up the price of groceries in New Zealand is a coming big rise in rail freights. One wholesale grocery merchant said that he had for some time been working on a specia] freight arrangement with the Railway Department, under which, in order to compete with shipping freights, he had been able to send goods from Wellington to Taranaki a t 40s a ton. He had just been notified that from June 1 that freight would go up to 74s 6d a ton. That, of course, would force^ him to use sea transport, but he antfcipated that the shipping companies would shortly increase their charges. Rail charges on other routes | were to be increased from 20 per cent, [upwards,,