BUTCHERS AND MINISTER

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 294, 11 December 1943, Page 6

BUTCHERS AND MINISTER

"RESTIVE OVER POSITION" (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Friday. j "Butchers throughout the Dominion are still very restive over the position in which they are placed through being told by the Government that they must sell beef for less than they pay for it," said Mr. IT. W. Stephenson, president of the New Zealand Master Butchers' Association, to-day. "A few days ago the Minister of Industries and Commerce, Mr. Sullivan, warned the butchers that they would be committing a breach of the law if they failed to sell beef at the fixed prices, even though by so doing they would be selling at less than cost price. This is a startling attitude for the Minister to take up. He appears to justify such an absurdity by saying the butchers must 'judge results over the whole year's trading.'

"It is clearly laid down in Price Order No. 98 that the retail prices of beef are fixed on the assumption that the wholesale price of beef is 36/ per 1001b. In order to get beef, butchers have been compelled to pay up to 66/ to 71/ per 1001b. The Government does not try to stabilise wholesale prices, but it expects the butchers to buy and sell at a loss. The situation is Gilbertian. Mr. Sullivan appears to have reached the conclusion that his Department cannot keep wholesale prices down, and he, therefore, has the brainy idea that the butchers should either sell at a loss or conspire with one another against the wholesalers by forming some sort of buying ring." •

'Commenting on Mr. Stephenson's statement, Mr. Sullivan said again that any butcher found breaking the Meat Price Order would be prosecuted. Every butcher was aware of the limits within which he could sell, and, if he was prepared to buy beyond those limits, he must absorb the consequent losses. In stating that the basic wholesale price was 36/ per 1001b, Mr. Stephenson was either not aware of "the provisions regarding seasonal rises in the basic wholesale price, or was attempting .to create a false . impression. The seasonal rises in retail prices were stipulated, and gave the following basic wholesale prices:—North Island: October 1 to August 19, 36/; August 20 to September 30, 40/. South Island: January 1 to June 30, 36/; July 1 to July 31. 40/; August 1 to August 19. 44/; August 20 to November 30, 48/; December 1 to December 31, 44/.