POOR OYSTERS.

Auckland Star, Volume LVIII, Issue 151, 29 June 1927, Page 10

POOR OYSTERS.

FISH DEALERS DISSATISFIED. " GOVERNMENT CONTROL, A FAILURE." A NEW SYSTEM SUGGESTED. It may be some consolation to the housewife who li.i s been badly disappointed with the neu season's yostcrs to know ihat .-he has the full sympathy of her lish dealer. Sine* the opening of the season local lisa merchant., have been verv di<->atistit-d with the quality of the*ov»ter* coming mto the shops, aud yestcrdav afternoon represenUtjves of Ji the lap e 'c t t fish selling concerns in Auckland held a meeting, Mr. \V. J Gibboupresideut of the Fi.-h Curers' Union pre-' siding. « "The oyster business has never been rt SIKW " tue Ck>vernment torJc over •"•iitiol of the beds in IWS," deoliireii one of the dealers. From the time the Government took of the beds, it Wa * said the quality of the oysters began to deter'orale. At the present time it was lower than ever before. About the time that the Government took over the control merchants were paying 7/tj i o .- a sack containing enough oysters to fill seven kerosene tins; to-dav thev we~e giving 24/ for a sack uhfch contained only enough to fiU five tins. "We would rather pay £■> per saeJc or good oysters than 2V for thv Mibbuh we are getting DO w" M id another dealer present. From on, whole M ck be said, he had obtained only enough good oysters to fill ten bottle, which sou ; t , VG Thus the total prolit on thr*ack wa, M .°. ° f M 'SooA oysters, be a . > S , , WOUW P robab, y be sulficient fo- -_ bottles. Worst for Twenty-tight Years. An oyster opener, who had been in i the busmess for twenty-eight vears said that the present seWn thJ worst he had ever known. In p re vi ou - IT?*/ , agW had aVera S«l from £3 15/ to £6 5/ per week; last week the IYZ ° ( * Pontage o the b,Mng unfit to cat, his Z~ had dropped to t2 7/6. Other u!e-,' had suilcred in the same manner i«"i l; vi !L dcf '; an - v c -° vc "»nieT,t ioM^c^ to eat th«M. » declared another of tb««e present, .nd.cating a basin of the better •'penmens take,, f rom a Mck . oy,tcrs he pointed out as good but the other,, he said, were ab4lut.lv unfit Another dealer said that from a -^Ih

It was soid ihat the Government took do stops to s-ee that the oysters were correctly picked. Before tie Government took control pickers were prohibited fron: tnkini: oyMcrs under a certain size, and frequently liorernmail inspector? \-ould i-.i:nc round with metil rings to see that Iho o\>u«rs were fnllsized. If an ovs-Ti-r could pa>= throngk the ring the in-}.ert<i> would insist til* the whole sack whence it came should be emptied and the small oysters throws out. Now there »a' no such lest. Also, the oysters were supposed to tt picked singly, but that was not being done. Instead, the dealer? were frequently getting a< many as a do«l oysters clustered together, some flirty good, some dead, and others hardly U big a> a threej<ennv bit. This indicate! that the oyster beds were not receiving proper care. In the opinion, of the dealers, the only remedy for the trouble was for tbi Govern men t to leaie the beds to tte owners of the foreshore properties. Cade this system pro]<erty owner.* would b» .•nr-ouraged to .-ee that the oysters wen pii-kt-d at the right iii_io. jnJ pickea would take care that only food specimen? were seiovted. a? J hey would know that they would not ohuiin a sale f<ff under- ? iz<-d oystvrr. Aγ il was at present the picker* tilled their bags nit! whatever they could Ijy their hands caw The Government, it was added, could fil the price*, and there would be uo mon> poly. AfJer further discussion the meetjaf a rt>olution. a copy of whick >s to be s*nt to the Minister of iitrin* stating that, in their opinion, the Gorernment control of oysters hai failed, and recommendiiig that the bed* should be leaded to private individuals that the pric-e of the oy>tcr» thould b» fixed by the Government.