The Press WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1936. Chain Store Chemists

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21805, 10 June 1936, Page 10

The Press WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10, 1936. Chain Store Chemists

The report of the Industries and Commerce Committee of the House of Representatives on the petition against chain store chemists deals very sensibly with a difficult problem. No one wants to see large numbers of New Zealand chemists driven out of business because of their inability to compete with chain'stores. But in this matter the interests of the consumers must come first. Cheap medicines are an essential part- of the national health service; and no government can accept the responsibility of bolstering up a system which keeps retail prices higher than they need be. The committee finds that superior organisation enables a British concern operating chains of chemists’ shops to undersell New Zealand retailers. It feels, however, that some scheme of rationalisation might enable New Zealand retail chemists to reduce their overhead costs and pass on the benefit to the consumer. Accordingly, the report recommends that New Zealand chemists be given six months in which to carry out a reorganisation of their industry. During that period large-scale company pharmacies will not be allowed to extend their operations. If, at the end of the six months, prices are still considered too high, the Government will presumably allow outside competition. The only objection which can reasonably be lodged against this scheme is that the time allowed is too short. An industry in which there are hundreds of independent units can hardly be expected to formulate and carry through a rationalisation scheme in six months. Incidental to the main recommendations in the report are suggestions that chemists’ shops should be licensed and that the Government should “ investigate the possibility of a national phar- “ macy service.” Whether this last suggestion is, as some members of the House have assumed, a recommendation that such a service be established, is not clear. The proposal to license chemists’ shops is the sort of proposal any industry will have forced on it when it goes to the State for assistance.