RATIONED GOODS

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 38, 14 February 1945, Page 6

RATIONED GOODS

PREFERENCE CHARGE

HUNTLY MINERS' STORE

A reply to the recent statement by the Minister of Finance, Mr. Nash, regarding the alleged preferential treatment of the Huntly Cooperative Store in respect to the supply of rationed goods, s u £h as tobacco and bacon, was made to-day by the secretary of the New Zealand Master Grocers' Federal on Mr. R. M. Barker, on ■■ his return from the South Island. "In his statement Mr. Nash avoided the most important POintm connection with the establishment of the co-operative store said Air. Barker. "He stated that the_ large number of new customers who registered with the store were unable to obtain supplies of bacon and tobacco. There was nothing whatever new about this position, as H was part of a policy laid down by the Government and subscribed to by this federation some three years ago, when it was agreed that allocations of short lines would not be made available to any new busiThis policy was adhered to and as recently as a fortnight .before the miners' store commenced operations a retailer in Timaru was advised that as he was not m business in 1942 it was not possible to make him an allocation of bacon. "In the opinion of my federation the Government's policy having been enforced for so long should have been maintained and not departed from merely because of pressure from the miners of Huntly. Mr Nash said it was 'obviously unfair that the hundreds of members who chose to deal with the cooperative store should be denied bacon and ham.' The obvious answer to this is that if they wished to transfer their sugar registrations to a new store they should have accepted the same fate as accrued to people in other parts of the Dominion. It is correct that the tobacco allocations in Huntly had been re-arranged, but in no circumstances can it be claimed that they are comparable to the sugar registrations and in any case if they were Mr. Nash has failed to show, any relationship between sugar registrations and tobacco users. A Serviceman's Case "Perhaps Mr. Nash will explain why a returned serviceman in Huntly who lost eight registrations out of a previous total, ot 386 had his tobacco allocation reduced from 221b a month to 111b a month, whereas the co-operative store was given an allocation of 1301b a month to distribute amongst approximately 1500 sugar registrations. In other words, the returned serviceman was able to give his customers les,s than half an ounce of tobacco a month, whereas the miners' allocation represented H- ounces a month. "It is incorrect for Mr. Nash to say that the action taken in regard to bacon and ham was similar to the tobacco position. So far as bacon and ham is concerned, the quotas of existing retailers were not reduced, but a substantial allocation was made to the miners' store, with the' result that the allocation of bacon and ham to the Huntly district is greater on a per capita basis than anywhere else in the Dominion. "The federation is still awaiting a reply to its letter addressed to Mr. Nordmeyer on January 4, and when that reply is received it will gladly submit the correspondence to the Press. The public can then determine for themselves to what extent the Huntly co-operative store has been assisted to the detriment of existing retailers and also of returned servicemen."