FIXED PRICE OF ORANGES

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22108, 2 June 1937, Page 10

FIXED PRICE OF ORANGES

OBJECTION BY RETAILERS AT WELLINGTON ASSOCIATION REFUSES TOBUY (PBBBS AMOCIATIOX TSUWBAV.) WELLINGTON. June 1. - There are oranges for sale on the [Wellington market to-day, but they are not being bought. Retailers find themselves unable to agree that the price fixed by the Government is reasonable, and when the fruit was put up for auction, there was no response from members of the Retail Fruiterers' Association. The are the first shipment from the Ltwk Islands. They arrived at Auckland by the Limerick and were railed to Wellington. The Government fixed the price at from 14s to 21s a case, according: to count; and the association, at a meeting this-morning, decided that members were not to handle the Oranges, unless the price were reduced by 2s fid a case, on the ground that the fruit was not In a good condition. One owner of a barrow seized his opportunity by buying 35 cases for sale in city streets. The decision of the Government that the price of oranges could not be varied, was conveyed to the Retail Fruiterers' Association later in the day. The Government's view was that it was simply the agent of the growers. The Government had no intention of making a profit out of the transaction, nor was it intended to return unduly high prices to the growers. The Government price of 14s applied to a case containing 126 oranges, which were the largest oranges available. A case containing 252 could be obtained tor 19s.