FISH EXPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 66, 19 March 1938, Page 12

FISH EXPORT.

SHOULD BE BANNED. COMMITTEE'S STRICTURES. SOLVING TRADE'S PROBLEMS. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, this day. There is ample proof in the voluminous report of the Sea Fisheries Investigation Committee that there is no unlimited supply of fish in the waters surrounding New Zealand. A small improvement in the consumption of fish by the population would absorb the exported surplus, and the committee makes the following strong recommendation to the Government; — "The committee's view is that the best interests of New Zealand would be . served if the fish export trade were almost totally dispensed with. The evidence forces the committee to the conclusion that the phenomenal rise of the export trade of recent years is the root of almost all the troubles in the New Zealand fishing industry." | Criticism of the Australian business is to be found in the report. "Fish has been sold in Sydney and Melbourne," it states, "at a price which, allowing for the charges required for handling, dressing, wastage, freezing, transport and other costs was lower than the price at which the same fish was made available to the retailers of New Zealand. \ "Only the low price made the fish attractive to the Australian wholesalers. As soon as the price was raised to recover a fair, but not excessively high return to the fishermen, plus the charges for handling and transport, it was not wanted. There can be no doubt that the Australian wholesalers have exerted all means in their power to break efforts on the part of the New Zealand export interests to trade advantageously. Means which, to say the least, arc unethical have been employed by Australian dealers with this object, and by playing off South Island wholesalers against the North Island wholesalers they have succeeded to some extent."